Gulls

Joe Meche is a past president of the North Cascades Audubon Society and is still active in chapter affairs.He has been watching birds for more than 60 years and photographing birds and landscapes for more than 40 years. He has written more than 132 articles for Whatcom Watch.

In my experience, both in the field and around the village, one of the most overlooked groups of birds has to be the gulls. Like mallards, perhaps this entire group of highly visible birds is just too common or not attractive enough to bear a second look, much less to spend time learning more about them. Is it because they’re too noisy or too messy, and have a tendency to drop their calling cards on our vehicles when we’re parked in their territory? Whatever the reasons most people don’t care for them or give them a second look, I’m here to say that I like gulls. If nothing else, they’re reliable, and their behavior is always interesting to observe.

It seems that whenever it’s difficult to find most other birds, there are always gulls around to observe, study, and learn. The variations in adult, juvenile, and seasonal plumages in even our most common gulls are challenging to learn. It takes time to learn the subtle differences between four-year gulls, especially when you consider the variations of hybrids in our locally-common glaucous-winged gull.

Since the first thing you normally see when you’re gulling is a substantial white bird, perhaps an easier way to learn gulls is to begin by focusing on the relative size of the bird. This practice is a basic process-of-elimination regimen that can hasten the learning process. Since our local gulls range in size from the large glaucous-winged to the considerably smaller mew gull, it’s easy enough to separate them this way before deciding on an accurate I.D. Other things to help with field identification are the visual clues of plumage patterns and color, leg color, eye color, size and color of the bill.

Gulls are usually associated with waterfronts and beaches, but it’s common to see them inland or in freshwater habitats. They are known to cover a wide range of territory in their daily pursuits and they are opportunists when it comes to their diet – they’ll eat just about anything. During nesting season they will eat the eggs and even the young of other species in the same nesting colony; they often intimidate other birds and take away whatever food they can; and they will, as everyone knows, accept handouts from humans. Landfills and garbage dumps tend to be favorite hangouts for many gulls, as well as a few birdwatchers trying to find rare gulls.

Of all bird species, gulls have perhaps the closest relationship with humans. From beach party leftovers, scraps from fishing boats, and grubs and mice flushed from fields by farm machinery, many gull species take advantage of the proximity of humans. In a classic case of a symbiotic relationship, California gulls are credited with saving the early Mormon settlers from the hordes of grasshoppers that threatened their crops. A monument in Salt Lake City commemorates that little-known part of Mormon history.

Like most species living near humans, the close relationship was not always a good thing for gulls. On the Atlantic coast in the nineteenth century, gulls were shot for their meat, their colonies were raided for their eggs, and demands of the millinery trade took a heavy toll as well. While it might be difficult to imagine in today’s world, there was a time when wild bird feathers were used to adorn women’s hats and gowns.

Despite the actions of humans to their detriment, gull populations rebounded after the end of the millinery trade. Almost simultaneously, in 1883, the first meeting of the American Ornithological Union took place and the Bird Protection Committee began to assemble reports on the status of bird populations. Three years later, George Bird Grinnel proposed the formation of an association to protect wild birds and their eggs.

The association that he founded was the first Audubon Society. The events on the Atlantic coast with populations of gulls and the slaughter of large wading birds in Gulf Coast states combined to usher in the conservation movement in America. Much of the gratitude we feel to the early conservationists could well be directed to the gulls and other indicator species that were the red flags that raised public awareness to the senseless slaughter of numerous birds.

Gulls belong to the family Laridae, which includes all the world’s gulls and their allies, the skuas, jaegers, terns, and skimmers. Like all members of this family, gulls are superb aerialists. Their strong bodies and long, wide wings are perfectly adapted to every habitat they choose. Gulls range in size from the aptly named little gull to the large great black-backed gull. There are 46 species of gulls worldwide with 21 found in North America. Of those, 14 species have been recorded in Whatcom County.

Male and female gulls look alike and they have one brood of chicks each year. The chicks are able to walk about shortly after hatching but they are not totally precocial because they cannot feed themselves. Chicks depend on regurgitated food delivered to the nesting site by the adults. Many opportunities exist to view young gulls from hatching to fledging, since their nests are usually in plain view on any available rooftop near the waterfront.

Of the many characteristics shared by gulls, the most notable is the unique adaptation that enables them to drink fresh or salt water. A pair of glands on top of their skulls eliminates excess salt. Each of these glands is made up of lobes with a central duct surrounded by capillaries and thousands of salt-extracting cells. The salt is passed from capillary to cell and flows in a highly concentrated stream through the ducts and into the nasal cavities, where it is eliminated through the nostrils. This is yet another classic example of adaptive evolution.

In the process of moving last May, quite a few books were transported to and stored in my shop. One of the books I stopped to peruse one rainy day was “Gulls: a Social History,” written by Frank Graham, Jr., longtime Field Editor of Audubon magazine, and published in 1975. I read one passage and was reminded of the last column I wrote about gulls [April 2003] that was entitled, Gulls, not Seagulls:

“Ain’t ain’t in the dictionary,” our grandmothers used to tell us, and many ornithologists are equally emphatic (and just as often ignored) about the word “seagull.” Gulls, they assert, are not seagoing, or pelagic, birds at all, but scavengers who prefer to live their lives close to the shore and sometimes even far inland. In this view, they are as little entitled to be called seagulls as the crewmen of tugs and ferries entitles to be called seamen.

No matter where you go, from Blaine to Baja, the sound of gulls will be as synonymous as the sound of surf on beachfronts everywhere. Take the time to visit places where gulls are active and get to know them a little better. Gulls are gregarious and there is often a lot of communication between individuals within a roosting colony of birds. They demonstrate over and over how resilient and opportunistic they are in a variety of ways. And remember, they’re always out there!