Lesser Black-backed Gull F05 back on island (photo by Will Nichols)

F05, the Lesser Black-backed Gull first observed nesting on Appledore Island in May of 2007 is back on Appledore Island after wintering in Dayton Beach area of Florida.  Not only is F05, the suave European gull, returned to Appledore,  but Cassie has returned to Appledore.  Cassie, better known in the science world as Mary Caswell Stoddard, was a college student in 2007.  It was Cassie who endured endless hours for months of heat, rain, insects, and wind to observe and document F05’s most intimate life details as F05 and mate incubated two eggs and raised their two chicks in 2007.  Cassie returned to Appledore yesterday, May 15, in her current role as PhD scientist at Harvard to begin some fascinating studies on color perception and pattern recognition in gulls.

Cassie Stoddard, dedicated observer of the LBBG during his first summer here. (photo by Bill Clark)

It was only an hour after arrival that Cassie raced to the east side of Appledore to view LBBG.  ‘So there you have it, folks’.  LBBG F05, known about Shoals Marine Laboratory on Appledore as Pierre, has been reunited with the person with the most intimate long term knowledge of his behavior and relationships. F05 has also united with a conspecific; he has taken up housekeeping with a Herring Gull once again. His mate this year is A46, a bird banded as an adult in 2005. She’s since been seen almost every year, generally in that same area of the island. So far no eggs in the nest, but plenty of pair bonded behavior.

The last bit of news is potentially the most exciting; on a walk around the LBBG’s territory, Julie spotted a Herring Gull with unusually cheery, yellow-tinged legs. Standing beside a more typical Herring Gull for comparison, it appeared to us that the oddball bird had a yellowish-pink hue to the legs, and a slightly darker mantle, but no other deviations from Herring Gull plumage. Bill Clark has done some sleuthing around and has found several photos online of evident LBBGxHERG hybrids and they look strikingly similar to our bird of interest. Tomorrow, I hope to post some high quality photos for your perusal, gull blog readers. Hybrids of this sort are not new, and are relatively common in Europe. But the potential here is that this particular bird could possibly be the homegrown offspring of F05 and one of his past mates. That would be exciting news indeed. Keep your eyes on this spot for more, hopefully very soon.

(submitted by Sarah Courchesne with substantial contributions from Bill Clark)

Distance between Port Aransas and Brownsville

Texas seems to have been a popular spot with the gulls of Appledore this winter – V66, a Herring Gull banded as a chick on July 19, 2012, was seen and photographed there again just a few weeks ago! He or she was spotted on two separate occasions (March 13 and 16) by Tom Gorham near Port Aransas, TX. It has been about 3 months since V66 was seen on Mustang Island, Port Aransas on December 31 by Tripp Davenport, and it looks like an enjoyable spot! V57, another Herring Gull banded as a chick in 2012, was seen in Brownsville, TX on February 2, 2013. According to google maps, the two places are only about 175 miles apart (a relatively short distance considering they both traveled there from Maine). Wonder if they’ve come into contact at all!

Photo Credit – Tom Gorham

Photo Credit – Tom Gorham

Hello again everyone! This week we would like to highlight a resight from bird watcher and artist Keith Mueller. On the morning of February 22, Keith photographed Herring Gull K10 on Circle Beach on the Madison/Guilford line in CT. K10 was spotted with a flock of about 400 other gulls including 3 Iceland Gulls. Two days later, Keith spotted the same gull on Circle Beach around noon.

K10 was banded as a chick on Appledore Island on July 12, 2011. He or she was the “C Chick” (the last chick out of a total of 3 to hatch), and was seen twice more on Appledore Island in August of 2011, but hadn’t been seen since then. We are grateful to Keith for letting us know K10 is alive and well! Check out some of his beautiful photographs below.

Photo Credit – Keith Mueller

Photo Credit – Keith Mueller

Photo Credit – Keith Mueller

In other news, we are working on a collection of photographs of banded gulls of various ages for the blog.  The idea is to create a resource for birders who want to know what Herring and Great Black-backed gulls look like at various ages and stages.  Because we know the age of birds that were banded as chicks, we have accumulated a small set of photos of resighted gulls of known age.  We will be placing these photos at a new tab on the blog.

WE NEED YOUR HELP! We are still looking for photos of Great Black-Backed Gulls between the ages of 2 and 5, and Herring Gulls between 3 and 5. If you see one of the banded Appledore gulls, especially one that looks like a juvenile, please take a few photos of the bird from various perspectives (flying, standing) so that we might add these to our collection.  You can contact us about your photos and resights by commenting at the blog. We really appreciate your help and we think this would be a great resource for all!

This week we received one of our western-most sightings ever! On February 2, 2013, Martin Reid spotted V57, a young Herring Gull, at Brownsville Municipal Landfill in Cameron County, Texas. He wrote: “It was incredibly lucky for me to get these data, as at the time I took the pics, I was trying to photograph a presumed Nelson’s Gull (Herring x Glaucous hybrid) among a large group of gulls that took-off suddenly. When I looked at my photos later, I realized that I had gotten the ‘wrong’ (maybe not!) bird and noticed the bands on its legs.”

V57 was banded as a chick on July 19, 2012 on Appledore, Maine.  He or she was the “A” chick, meaning it was the first of its nest-mates to hatch.  V57 traveled quite a distance after fledging!  Interestingly, both V57 and V66 hatched in 2012 and dispersed to Texas for the winter.  These two birds came from nests located on the main campus of the Shoals Marine Laboratory (see Map tab).  V57′s nest was near Laighton and V66′s was on the road from Bartels to Kiggins Commons.  We’ve often wondered if birds that nest near one another learn various behaviors from one another.  For example, do neighbors use the same foraging or dispersal sites?  It’s also possible that neighbors are related to one another and, as a consequence, have inherited or learned similar behaviors.  With enough data on dispersal and genetics, we may be able to investigate these questions.

Map from Appledore Island (A) to Brownsville Municipal Landfill (B)

Photo Credit – Martin Reid

Photo Credit – Martin Reid

Hello again everyone! As winter storm Nemo bears down on the Northeast I would like to take a moment to focus on one of our birds who has outsmarted us all and relocated to Florida for the winter. X25 is a Herring Gull that was banded as a chick on Appledore on July 20, 2012, and since then has only been spotted in the area of Fort Myers Beach, Florida. He or she was first seen on November 30, 2012 in Little Estero Lagoon, Fort Myers Beach (by two different people), and then again on December 16, 2012. We are told that Little Estero Lagoon is a Critical Wildlife Area on the southern end of Fort Myers Beach and a great place for birders! On January 17, 2013 X25 was spotted in a new location of Bunche Beach, Cape Coral, Florida (about 5 miles away) , but then returned again to Fort Myers Beach on January 24, 2013. Pat Green reported the sighting on January 24th and took some great photos shown below.

Photo Credit – Pat Green

Photo Credit – Pat Green

This week’s resights come to us from Jon Worthen (gull resighter, extraordinaire). On Saturday, January 26th, he spotted R47, M77, and H99 on Hampton Beach, NH and took some beautiful photos!

R47 was banded as a chick on July 17, 2012 on Appledore. Since then, he or she has been seen a total of 4 times – twice on Appledore Island in July and August, and twice by Jon Worthen on Hampton Beach, NH in September of 2012 and January 26th. Bill Clark says about the photo, “the eye is bright and the gull looks healthy”.

M77 was banded as an adult on May 27, 2012 and has been seen 3 times since then. He or she was seen again on Appledore on July 4th and twice on Hampton Beach, NH by Jon Worthen in August and this week.

The last gull, H99, was banded as a chick on July 10, 2007 on Appledore near the swimming hole. H99 spent much of his or her youth at Jenness Beach in Rye, NH, and was spotted there in July and September of 2008, October of 2009, and August of 2010. H99 returned to Appledore in May of 2012, and is overwintering at Hampton Beach.

Thanks again to Jon Worthen (one of our largest contributors to the database) and everyone who contacts us with resights of the banded gulls!

H99 on Hampton Beach, NH. Photo Courtesy of Jon Worthen.

M77 on Hampton Beach, NH. Photo Courtesy of Jon Worthen.

R47 on Hampton Beach, NH. Photo Courtesy of Jon Worthen.

Hi Everyone – Simone here! This week we want to highlight a resight coming to us from Susan Hochgraf and Jorge de Leon. On December 29, 2012 they spotted a Great Black-backed Gull, 2E2, on Sandy Point, Plum Island, Massachusetts. In Sue’s words – 2E2 was “feeding on the rocks at water line in a receding tide, just before snow began to fall on a cold and windy afternoon”.

2E2 is a male that was banded as an adult on Appledore Island on May 26, 2006. Since then, he has been seen 22 times – but only in 2 distinct places! In the month of May, 2E2 is observed on Appledore (he was observed in 2006, 2007, 2010, 2011 and 2012) but he spends the rest of his year on Plum Island in Newburyport. He has been spotted on Plum Island numerous times in late summer, fall, and winter every year since his banding in 2006 (except in 2008).  He has been seen eating Skates, clams, and fish.

Male Great Black-backed Gulls (and Herring Gulls) tend to return to their nesting sites each breeding season (from late April to June), and 2E2 has shown strong fidelity to both nesting and overwintering sites. We know that he has returned to Appledore at least 5 out of the past 7 years.

Thanks to Susan Hochgraf and Jorge de Leon for sending us this beautiful photo!

Dr. Ellis here to provide some breaking news on the whereabouts of the LBBG of Appledore, “F05!”  As you may recall, F05 did not show up on Appledore last summer.  Before last year, he had nested in Appledore every year from 2007-2011.   Because he did not show up last summer, we wondered if he’d gone to the “big landfill in the sky,” as my colleague Steve Mirick put it.  BUT, yesterday, Michael Brothers emailed to let me know that he spotted F05.  In Michael’s (excited) words:

Amazing!  He is back!  Last night, 1/07, I found the Lesser Black-backed Gull F05 back at Daytona Beach Shores. This is the 5th consecutive winter that it has stayed here. I first found the bird on January 21, 2009. It has visited here each winter since then. Amazing!

F05 (missing his aluminum band!) in Florida. Photo by Michael Brothers

I agree with Michael; this is amazing and begs the question: WHERE was F05 last summer??  Did he take a year off from breeding?  Did he breed somewhere else?

These gulls sure keep you on your toes!

Can’t wait to see if he shows up on Appledore this summer.  We’ll keep you posted.

Hello everyone! This is Simone, a vet student working for Dr. Ellis on the gull banding project. Unless specified otherwise I will be writing the blog posts from now on. Hope you enjoy!

On New Year’s Eve of 2012, we received an e-mail  with the western-most sightings in the history of the gull banding project! This came from Tripp Davenport, who spotted the Herring Gull (V66) on Mustang Island, Port Aransas, Texas located in Nueces County. He wrote that the bird was in the company of a large mixed gull flock resting on the beach, seemed healthy and active, and was more wary of humans than the other gulls present. He got some beautiful photos – including one of the bird feeding on discarded soup bones!

Photo Credit to Tripp Davenport

V66 Feeding on Scraps – Photo Credit to Tripp Davenport

V66 was banded as a chick in July of 2012 on Appledore, and had only been spotted one other time in August on the same island. Since then, he or she has obviously traveled quite a bit. Driving, it would be approximately 2,127 miles to get from Appledore  to Mustang Island, and over 34 hours!

Distance from Appledore, ME to Mustang Island, TX

Last week, an Appledore Gull (Band = V50) was found in Dorchester, a neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts.  The bird was so weak that the observer was able to walk right up and pick it up.

Coincidentally, V50 was delivered to the Tufts Wildlife Clinic, which is located down the hall from my office.  V50 was banded as a chick in July 2012, and subsequently managed to get into a heap of trouble.  It was  male (determined on necropsy), and had a lacerated and infected right eye.  Dr. Mark Pokras, the Tufts veterinarian who saw the bird, said V50 was most likely blind in that eye.  The bird also had a broken femur resulting from being hit by something – a car, possibly.  V50 only weighed 522 grams; when he was banded in July, before he was full-size, he weighed 740g!   So, he was extremely skinny.  The bird was euthanized because he could not have recovered from his injuries.  Life for young gulls is tough:  only about 50% of Herring Gulls survive from fledging to their first breeding attempt.

Gulls get all sorts of injuries, many of which result from their habit of hanging around people:  broken wings from car strikes, entanglement in fishing gear, oiling, etc.  These injuries do result in mortality in many instances.  But, gulls are amazingly resilient.  For instance, we’ve seen many a gull with only one foot doing well enough to successfully breed for multiple years.  One such gull, affectionately named, “Peg Leg,” was first observed on Appledore by Dr. Sara Morris; Sara runs the Appledore Island Migration Banding Station.  Sara noticed Peg Leg in 1990 when he still had two feet – one foot was wrapped in fishing line and going necrotic (rotting).  The following year, Peg returned with only one foot.  Peg continued to nest in the same location each year, and we were finally able to capture him for banding in 2006.  He was last seen during the breeding season in 2008.  Incidentally, we know he was a male because we observed him mating – not an easy feat (so to speak) with only one intact foot!  Herring Gulls start breeding sometime between their 3rd and 5th year of life.  So, Peg was at least 21 years old!  Herring Gulls typically live to 15-20 years in the wild, with some reaching 30 years.  So, Peg manged to do pretty well in spite of his missing foot.