Was looking at some beautiful pictures on Steven Pinker’s web site (check them out–they’re well worth it). He has a nice one of a seagull (in the Cape Cod 1 set), and it reminded me of this one (which if I do say so myself, compares well with his.)
I got the picture a couple of years ago when at the coast. A friend and I were sitting on a bench chatting, and he (she? if you can tell, you know more than I do) just landed right in front of us and practically posed for me. I had plenty of time to turn on the camera and fiddle with settings before snapping the pic. Maybe he was waiting for a handout, or maybe he was just vain, or particularly friendly.
I don’t know what kind of gull it is; if you know, please enlighten me. The red beak is rather distinctive, so it should be easy to identify on that basis; I’m just too lazy to look it up.
Addofio 
Ha! it’s been bugging me ever since I posted this that I didn’t have an identification for it, but I think I found it. It fits the description of a Heerman’s Gull, though this one is prettier than the picture they have with the description in that link. Also, if it was a Heerman’s gull it may have been a bit confused; according to the description, I would think this has the coloring of a breeding adult, but its location (central California coast) was out of the indicated breeding range for the species.
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