Great Black-backed Gull, 0F4, was recently observed begging for handouts on a fishing boat off the coast of New York.  0F4 was banded in July 2009, made its way down to NY and is apparently trying to ingratiate itself with local fishermen.

Juvenile GBBG trying to look all cute so it might get some scraps

As many of you know, gulls often make a living scavenging discards from fishing boats.  However, before you jump to conclusions about gulls as the “rats of the sea,” you should know that they aren’t the only seabirds that follow fishing boats….A recent study (http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100128130219.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed) used satellite data for Cory’s and Balearic shearwaters to  analyze their movement patterns during foraging trips.  In general, foraging trips lasted less than two days and covered distances anywhere from 10 to 1,000 kilometers.  On days when local fisheries were not operating, the birds combined local searching with searching over very large distances.  This “multi-scale” search pattern is efficient when the birds are looking for their natural prey, small fish and squid, which are highly mobile and unpredictably distributed in space and time.  In contrast, on days when fishermen were discarding fish, the birds performed more limited, local searches focused around the boats.  Thus, fishery activities dramatically altered foraging patterns of these pelagic seabird species.  So, the next time you hear someone “trash talking” (so to speak) gulls for their scavenging ways, you can direct them to our friends the shearwaters!

Another reason to go to the Space Coast Birding Festival – you might see the Appledore Lesser Black-backed Gull!   Michael Brothers, who saw the LBBG last January, says the bird has returned to spend another vacation in Florida.

LBBG at the beach in Florida. Photo by Michael Brothers

Last Saturday, January 2, Michael spotted the LBBG on the beach at the north jetty of Ponce de Leon Inlet, Volusia County, FL.   He found it again on January 6 back at Daytona Beach Shores where he observed it last January.

We generally do not see adult Herring Gulls or Great Black-backed Gulls as far south as Florida during the winter.   They tend to stay in the Northeast near the breeding island.  In comparison, Lesser Black-backed Gulls in Europe and elsewhere disperse much longer distances from breeding islands during the winter.   “Our” LBBG is, therefore, behaving like a typical Lesser Black-backed Gull.

Thanks for the report and excellent photos Michael!

We recently received one of only a handful of reports of an Appledore gull in Florida.  On December 29, 2009 Cole Fredricks and his wife observed and photographed a banded first year Herring Gull at Shell Point in Wakulla County, Florida.   Cole posted his photos on BRDBRAIN, a Florida list-serve for birders.

P64 at the beach in Florida. Photo by Cole Fredricks

This bird was banded in July 2009 and, therefore, dispersed from Maine to Florida (over ~1100 miles) during its first few months off the breeding island.

Speaking of Florida, the Annual Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival is coming up, January 27 – February 1, 2010 in Titusville, FL.   It will be a huge festival with some outstanding speakers (see the website:  http://www.nbbd.com/fly/).  Also, of particular note for larophiles is the North American Gull Conference (NAGC), which will be held in conjunction with the Festival.  There has not been a national gathering of birders who are dedicated to watching and studying gulls since the last NAGC 10 years ago!  One of the field trips for the NAGC is to Daytona Beach Shores, the “gull mecca” of central Florida.  Daytona Beach Shores is also where the Appledore Lesser Black-backed Gull (“F05″) was observed last January by Alvaro Jaramillo, Bob Wallace, and Michael Brothers who were leading a gull field trip as part of last year’s Space Coast Birding festival!

Very exciting news for all you larophiles out there!  As many of you know, a Lesser Black-backed Gull has been nesting on Appledore Island and has paired up with a Herring Gull for the last three years.  [see the "Lesser Black-backed Gull" tab for details]  On December 13, 2009 Blair Nikula observed an unusual second year gull at Herring Cove Beach in Provincetown, MA.  He thought it looked like a hybrid LBBG x HERG and took several photos of it.

LBBG x HERG offspring Photo by Blair Nikula

When the bird stood up, Blair noticed that it was banded and reported it to us.  “F02″ is one of the offspring of the Appledore LBBG x HERG pair and was banded as a chick in July 2008!

LBBG x HERG in flight. Photo by Blair Nikula

There is only one other observation of an Appledore  LBBG x HERG offspring and, interestingly, it was also F02.  On March 20, 2009 Mitchell Harris observed a banded gull at a landfill in Brevard County, Florida; he thought the bird looked like a LBBG and took some photos.   We received his report and photos and the bird did appear to be F02.

F02 at Florida landfill. Photo by Mitchell Harris

Close-up of F02 at Florida landfill. Photo by Mitchell Harris

Presumed hybrids of these two species have been observed annually along the east coast for some time.   Blair and Mitchell’s reports and photos of a bird with known parentage will be extremely useful for identification of presumed hybirds in the future.

Reports and photos of live and healthy Herring or Black-backed Gulls with green or black readable field bands are always wonderful to receive.  But also quite appreciated, are notices of deceased banded gulls since both types of information are valuable to the various ongoing research projects involving Appledore gulls.

The ‘deceased report’ for 7A6 was received from a gull control project near Rochester, NH.  The report was dated September 9, 2009.

Yellow marks resight location in Rochester, NH; red is Appledore Island.

Great Black-backed Gull 7A6 was banded as an adult at its nest near the paint shed on May 18, 2005.  In 2006, 7A6 nested near the same location and one its chicks was banded as 4E1.

In 2007, the same nest area was used by 7A6 and mate, 1E2.  One of their chicks was also banded (8N9) in that year.  We will be watching for the entry of either 4E1 or 8N9 into the breeding population on Appledore in future years.

In 2008, 7A6 nested in the same area of Appledore Island again with the same mate, 1E2  (Herring and Great Black-backed gulls are typically monogamous).  Three eggs were recorded in their nest in May, but no chicks were banded.  7A6 was once again nesting with mate 1E2 in May 2009 – in the same location as in previous years.  The last live sighting of 7A6 was on Appledore on August 21st of 2009.

7A6 tidying up near its nest on Appledore; photo by "gull wrangler" Bill Clark.

Some may wonder why only one chick was banded from the 7A6 and 1E2 nest in 2006 and 2007.  Herring and Great Black-backed gulls usually lay three eggs and many nests thus have three chicks.  The ideal is to band all the chicks in a given nest.  However (note this little qualifier), when banders approach a nest, half-grown chicks have full-grown legs and know how to use them!  Thus, catching even one chick can prove very challenging.  Chicks also have a habit of heading into the dense brush and poison ivy near the nest.  The reader quickly infers the result.

The report of 7A6 from Rochester by Jacob Borgeson is greatly appreciated.  Each report adds to the several ongoing research projects on the Appledore gulls.  If you see a banded gull (dead or alive) you may report via this web site or the USGS Bird Band Report site.

On 2 September 2009, 8A0 (a Great Black-backed Gull) was found deceased at Henderson Harbor, NY on the shore of Lake Ontario; the bird was reported to the Bird Banding Lab (http://www.pwrc.usgs.gov/bbl/).

Red marks its nest site on Appledore Island, and yellow marks its re-sighting at Lake Ontario, NY.

8A0 was banded as a breeding adult in May 2005 on the northwest side of Appledore Island and was thought to be a male; his mate, 9C8, was banded as an adult in May 2006.   Neither bird was observed at Appledore in 2007 (hard to say whether they weren’t there or if they were there, but not observed).  Both birds were observed at that same nest site on the northwest side of Appledore in May 2008 and 2009.

Distribution map for Great Black-backed Gulls (credit: Cornell Lab of Ornithology)

Suzanne Sullivan observed C71 on October 18th in Massachusetts

Suzanne Sullivan was out on Salisbury State Reservation on Sunday, the 18th of October and spotted this Herring Gull on the windswept beach. C71 is an adult originally banded on the nest at the Isles of Shoals in Maine in 2006.

Area outlined in black is shown in detail below

The bird seems to overwinter in Salisbury year after year, and was previously reported hanging out in the parking lot there in February and March of 2008.

The bird returns to Appledore Island to breed each summer, and seems to prefer a nest site right in the middle of the Shoals Marine Laboratory’s campus!

It is not unusual for gulls to show fidelity both to a nest site and an overwintering habitat, and this gull appears to be just such a creature of habit.

Thanks for the report, Suzanne!

Detail of C71's stomping grounds: red marks its nest site on Appledore Island, and yellow marks its recent re-sighting in Salisbury, MA.

This has been a long time coming, and at last, it’s here! Dr. Julie Ellis and her gull research project have entered the blogosphere. Julie has been banding gulls since 2004 (see “The Research” tab above) and she relies on members of the public to report sightings of banded gulls. Until now, those reports went into her research database, but it was difficult for everyone to view the sightings and the photos that sometimes accompany them. Now, everyone who reports a sighting, and anyone interested in the research, can come here to check out the latest banded gull news. Many of you readers may be SEANET volunteers, and those of you who already read the SEANET blog need only check there for news; we will let you know when there’s band news and send you over here to this blog.

So here’s the inaugural re-sighting post:

Dennis Minsky of Provincetown, Massachusetts wrote last week to say, “At Herring Cove Beach yesterday (10/7/09) a subadult (first winter?) GBBG, service band on the right leg, black band on the left reading “8F6″:  yours?”

Great Black-Backed Gulls sport black, field-readable bands like this one. Herring Gull bands are green.

Indeed, this is one of Dr. Ellis’ birds, and she had this additional info to offer on what is fast becoming a banded dynasty of Great Black-Backeds: “This IS one of “my” gulls – thanks so much for the report!  We banded this bird as a chick on Appledore Island, Maine on July 10, 2009.  Its sibling was also banded (“3F7″) this summer.  The parents of these two chicks had been banded as adults in previous years.  One parent, “3E1,” was banded in May of 2007; the other, “9C2,” was banded as an adult in May of 2006!   So, this is a well-banded family.”