California Gulls are medium sized gulls that have yellow bills and legs with white heads and underparts with medium gray backs. They have red eye rings, dark eyes, orange gapes and their bills have has a black line with a red spot on the lower mandible.
The typical eye color for California Gulls is a very dark brown that appears almost black in most cases but there can be variations in their eye color.
It was fun photographing this Double-crested Cormorant with its catch yesterday afternoon close to home especially since I knew the weather was going to take a turn.
For most of the year Ring-billed and California Gulls are some of the most common gulls here in northern Utah and for some people it might be challenging to tell them apart.
I photographed this California Gull hovering over the Bear River with the snow covered Promontory Mountains in the back ground while it looked for prey in the open water below.
Ring-billed and California Gulls are the typical gulls I find in Utah so it wasn't much of a surprise to find this California Gull at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge.
I photographed this California Gull back in May on Antelope Island State Park in falling rain and like the streaks of rain in the frame.
All this California Gull would need to get some people excited about it is talons instead of webbed feet and more of a hook to its bill and people would go absolutely bat-sh*t crazy over them.
The California Gulls and the Marbled Godwit came in close and I decided to do some portrait images of the gull.
Over the past week I have seen California Gulls in breeding plumage flying to Egg Island in the Great Salt Lake with nesting material in their bills while on the north end of Antelope Island State Park.
Photographing this California Gull on the wing was a highlight of my morning the day I took this photo. I love to photograph gulls.
I like gulls. I especially like being able to see them up close when the opportunities arise and will take advantage of my close proximity by taking portraits of these beautiful but often disliked birds.
Okay, I admit it. I think gulls are beautiful and this California Gull sure looked that way bathing! Look at those bright white feathers, the dark sparkling eyes rimmed in red, the darker contrasting gray feathers, the color and shape of the bill. What's not to like about that?
These are but a few of the birds I photographed this week in various Utah locations and all of them made great subjects!
Yesterday while near the marina on Antelope Island State Park I spotted my first of the year Brine Flies warming up on some of the rocks in the water.
2012 was a fantastic year for me as a photographer and I am looking forward to the joys that 2013 will bring. Happy New Year to all.
While my mother was visiting Utah she was able to see how California Gulls chase and feed on Brine Flies, it is fascinating feeding behavior. As my mom watched, I photographed.
It was the first time I have been able to photograph a California Gull with nesting material so I was quite pleased.
Yesterday while I was out photographing Long-billed Curlews this California Gull (Larus californicus) flew in so close that all I could do was take portraits of the bird.
This California Gull in flight was being buffeted by the wind, I had trouble keeping my lens steady because of it too.
This is the third post in my series about Wild and Wonderful Antelope Island State Park, I've saved the best (and longest) for last. The Birds! Okay, maybe they aren't the best thing about Antelope Island State Park, but I am a bird photographer and they are what I am most passionate about!
A few days ago I had the opportunity to take images of California Gulls feeding on brine flies along shoreline of the Great Salt Lake next to the causeway to Antelope Island
Huge flocks of California Gulls allegedly descended onto the grasshoppers in the valley and made tasty meals of the insects thus preventing the total loss of the crops as the story is told.