Hampton Beach, NH continues to be popular for Appledore Gulls

Justin here with more on the Gulls of Appledore. A couple months ago, we dedicated a post to C17, a gull known to stay local during the non-breeding season. C17 was one of several gulls spotted by Jon Worthen spotted at Hampton Beach. In late September, Jon spotted C45, another local gull that has frequented Jenness Beach, NH in 2008 and 2009. C45 was originally banded as a chick in 2005 and has returned to Appledore in each of the past three years.

C45 already showing winter plumage in late September - Photo by Jon Worthen

In mid September, Jon found three 2nd year Herring Gulls: K50, T05, and T20. Oddly enough, all three chicks were banded on July 15, 2010. These are the first recorded resights for these gulls! Nice work Jon!

These are the first recorded resights for T05, T20, and K50 - Photo by Jon Worthen

Jon also found a pair of newly fledged gulls, L56 and K82, in early September and mid November, respectively. They were 2 of the 397 total gull chicks we banded this summer. Needless to say, my fingers hurt when we were done! While I don’t remember K82 specifically, it was one the first chicks I banded so I’m glad to see he made it off the island! K82 is the offspring of K60, who was banded in May 2011 as an adult and nested by Laighton Hall.

K82 still hanging around Hampton Beach in mid November - Photo by Jon Worthen

Most recently, Jon found C45 for second time at Hampton Beach on January 25th. In addition to C45, Jon spotted N87, who was banded as an adult in May 2010 near the Great Tidepool. This is its first resight off island and its first resight since August 2010.

Occasionally, the Appledore Gull Project gets reports of gulls from other banding programs. Jon happened to snap this photo of an adult Ring-billed Gull with a blue band reading CKL. This gull was banded in Canada by a research group from l’Université du Québec à Montréal.

A banded Ring-billed Gull from Canada - Photo by Jon Worthen

We thank Jon for his numerous contributions to our program. We learn a little more about the gulls with each sighting.

Longtime Gull Wrangling Extraordinaire Bill Clark contributed to this post.