Herring Gull 43C by Dave Adrien on Plum Island

Appledore Island, Maine

43C was the ‘A’ chick (first hatched) of three chicks in monitored nest 14H321 on Appledore Island Maine.

Dave Adrien provides daily sightings and photos of gulls banded at Appledore and at other sites.  Since July 2014 more than 1950 sighting reports for more than 520 different banded gulls have been furnished by Dave to ‘Gull of Appledore’ as well as other banders in Maine, Massachusetts, and Canada.

In addition, Dave reports many banded shorebirds through USGS.

Bill Clark

Everyone Needs a Fresh Drink …

Both photos of Herring Gulls availing themselves of fresh water puddles at Hampton Beach are by Charlee Breen.

M82 in Summer Adult Plumage March 31, 2016

M82 was an adult when banded on Appledore Island in May of 2012; that infers an age of eight years or more for M82 in the photo.   The nest site for M82 on Appledore Island has been near the wind turbine for several years at Shoals Marine Lab.

V18, Now in Summer Adult Plumage March 31, 2016

V18 was banded as a chick July 2012 at a nest on Babb’s Rock near the Shoals Marine Laboratory dock.  As an adult gull V18 may return to nest on Appledore.  The Field Ornithology Class and the Student Gull Interns will be watching for possible return and nesting.

 

Shoals Marine Laboratory offers a wide variety of summer courses (and scholarships) for undergraduate students.  Courses often meet a general or distribution requirements for most college majors at many universities.

Posted by Bill Clark

A Clam for U10 at Plum Island

The photo of U10 was taken by Cindy Robinson Roper at Plum Island, MA on November 29, 2015.  Thanks to Jon Worthen for forwarding the photo and the sighting report.

U10 is an adult Herring Gull in winter (basic) plumage.  U10 was already an adult gull when banded May 27, 2014 at a nest on Appledore Island in Maine.  Since Herring Gulls do not reach adult plumage and nest until they are four years of age the minimum age for U10 in 2015 is five years.  The heavily streaked head is the winter plumage of a Herring Gull and the brown streaks will wear to a pure white head typical of Herring Gulls in the summer.

U10 returned to nest again in 2015 and frequents the Plum Island area.  Each observation is valued as a contribution to the research database, even reports two days in a row.

Hopefully U10 will again nest at Appledore in 2016.

Bill Clark

What’s In The Wind?

Robbie Prieto, a young student birder, sent along photos of two gulls taken on the same day, at about the same time, on the same seawall and calls attention to the differences:

“We saw two banded gulls on Monday, January 11 at Bicentennial Park in Hampton, NH – 56C was really blowing in the wind – sending along 2 photos showing lots of blown and ruffled feathers 🙂

V34 was standing nearby on the same seawall, but as the photo shows, for some reason this bird didn’t seem to be blowing around!”

Notice also the plumage differences between 56C (banded as a chick July 19, 2014) now a ‘second winter’ gull and V34 (banded as a chick July 19, 2012) and now a ‘young adult’ gull.

 

Clam Chowder Anyone?

Plum Island is a favorite spot for a few of the gulls banded at Appledore and records of each and every day a gull is present there are appreciated.  Cindy Robinson Roper provided the photograph of U10 via Facebook where Jon Worthen spotted the banded Herring Gull photo.

U10 was an adult nesting Herring Gull when banded on May 27, 2014 at Shoals Marine Lab on Appledore Island Maine.   The brown streaking is typical of the winter plumage of adult Herring Gulls.  By summer the brown will have worn down to the clean white head plumage of a summer adult Herring Gull.

Keep your eye open and send a note every time yo see one of the banded gulls.

Posted by Bill Clark

16C ‘On the Wing’

Coleen Prieto photographed ‘second winter’ Herring Gull 16C on November 20, 2015 at Seabrook, NH.  The attractive young Herring Gull was banded on Appledore Island, Maine on July 19, 2014 at a monitored nest.  Since the nest where 16C hatched was a monitored nest, we know that 16C was the second egg in the nest to hatch (‘B’ chick) and that the day the egg hatched was June 13 or 14, 2014.

Some first and second year Herring Gulls travel quite far, as far as Texas, Michigan and Quebec.  16C is a ‘stay at home’ Herring Gull, apparently never venturing far from Appledore Island,  with 38 reports from nearby Seabrook and Hampton, New Hampshire.

Are more reports desired?  A very definite YES.  Even two reports on the same day add to the information about the gulls so keep the reports of banded gulls flowing.

Herring Gulls take four years to reach typical gray and white plumage of adult Herring Gulls.  Young Herring Gulls are quite brown changing a bit more each year toward the adult plumage.

Thanks to Coleen and the many people who have taken the time to report a banded gull.

Posted by Bill Clark

 

 

 

Thanks to All Our Many Reporters

Gull reports come in regularly from many birders and beach-walkers and as I went through some of the reports from past months the number of individuals that have taken the time to report a banded gull has been amazing.  Many send reports by email and others via the Blog. The list is quite long.

So today I will mention several persons who have furnished numerous reports over the years.

For several years Jon Worthen has kept an eye open for Herring Gulls and Great Black-backed Gulls around Hampton Beach, NH. Jon photographs the gulls and sends the photos along with the date and location of each sighting. Here is one of his photos of 44H, nearly four month old, a Herring Gull hatched in June 2015. The photo was taken by Jon at Hampton Beach on September 5, 2015.

44H by Jon Worthen Sep 5 2015

Dave Adrien explores the beaches of Massachusetts and New Hampshire for banded gulls, shorebirds, and occasionally adds a species to his life list.  Dave’s special focus on ‘banded birds’ produces a treasure trove of photos and reports for ‘Gulls of Appledore’ as well as other research projects in Canada and the United States.

Dave has photographed and reported more than 450 banded birds to various research projects.  Of course, gulls banded on Appledore appear frequently in his camera lens and reports and photos from Dave arrive on almost a daily basis.  Here is a photo of Great Black-backed Gull 8AH, also about four months of age, taken by Dave September 30, 2015.

8AH by Dave Adrien Sept 30 2015

Another very regular reporter of banded gulls is Kathryn McLaughlin.  Kathryn enjoys walking at the beach on a daily basis and soon has a report of gulls she has seen that day zipping along the wires to add to the database.  Kathryn’s reports are providing a fine measure of gulls from a day to day basis.  Here is a photo of R47, one of the gulls reported by Kathryn, checking out the summer beach scene for goodies to appropriate.  The photo was taken by Stacy Coram July 27, 2015.

R47 by Stacy Coram July 27 2015

Gulls of Appledore receives reports from many, many people from Canada to Texas and Michigan.   The reports are all the very essence of the research.  The growing list of reports is exciting and provided the base for the many different research directions of this long-term project.

Thanks to all who take the time to say “I saw this banded gull today … “

Posted by Bill Clark

 

R37 Returns from New Jersey

        R37 – Third Summer Herring Gull                           August 11 2015 by Jackie Gauthier.

R37 was banded on Appledore Island July 17, 2012 and is now a third summer gull, looking rather adult but with still some brown in the wings and black in the tail.  When banded R37 had both feet and was in good health.  Fish line, nets, and traps are  seen entangling and entrapping shorebirds on all too frequent occasions.

Here are Jackie’s comments from the blog page:

Here is the amputee R37 that I read about [in an earlier blog entry], who was previously seen on a New Jersey beach.  He’s wearing his adult colors now.   I’ve seen him the last two mornings on the south end of the [Hampton, NH] beach.
   I’ve enjoyed watching the seagulls, they are beautiful birds, and so funny to watch them rob vacant picnic sites on the beach.
Your web site is so interesting what a great project.
Sincerely,
Jackie Gauthier