BIRDS OF NANTUCKET
PARKING LOT GULLS
by Kenneth Turner Blackshaw
Do you ever really look at gulls? Non-birders refer to them as 'sea' gulls, driving birders nuts! Learning not to say 'sea' gull is part of Birding 101 - right up there with avoiding saying 'Canadian' Geese. The book says 'Canada' Geese. But of course there IS a 'Mexican' Duck - not a 'Mexico' Duck. Oh dear - I've wandered away from the gulls.

Ring-billed gulls

Anyway, gulls love the shore and hardly ever go to sea. The other day I was buying gas at Hatch's and found myself watching gulls. The fellow who pumps the gas had been feeding them and - my goodness - there were three species of gulls wandering around the cars, picking up bits of bread. If you look at gulls you will quickly notice that almost every individual appears different from its neighbors.

Our most common gulls are the handsome, gray-backed Herring Gulls. They are followed by the Great Black-backed Gulls that are, well, greater and blacker! But the most numerous gull that day was the more delicate little Ring-billed Gull and that reminded me of what my friend Lee Morgan calls them - "Parking Lot Gulls." This is really something you observe when you are on the Cape. The parking lots around Hyannis are busy with gulls and almost all of them are Ring-billed Gulls. They are much more common there than either the Herring or Great Black-backed Gull.

In the early 19th century John James Audubon referred to the Ring-billed as the "Common American Gull." Mr. Audubon's arch-enemy, George Ord was the scientist who gave this gull its Latin name, Larus delawarensis, Larus from the Greek word for gull and delawarensis for the region where the first specimen came from.

We think of Audubon as the first American ornithologist and his 'elephant folio' of enormous bird pictures is what made his name one most of us recognize, but there was an earlier ornithologist, Alexander Wilson. Wilson also had a series of books, but they were not promoted as effectively as Audubon's. Mr. Ord felt Wilson's artwork was superior to Audubon's and actually was the one to finish the ninth volume of Wilson's "American Ornithology."

It's interesting to research a bird like the Ringbilled Gull and find that Audubon provided much of the early research about it, then find it named by someone like Ord, who it turns out, had a running feud with Audubon. It's easy to understand why he didn't appreciate Audubon's art. Although Audubon's paintings were large and richly colored, he used a shotgun to collect everything he painted and then tried to arrange the corpses in life-like positions. The result was some very awkward poses.

At any rate, when these gulls from the Delaware are with Herring Gulls they look about two-thirds the size. Their heads also seem rounder and more 'pigeony.' The illustration with this article shows two very different-looking gulls and gives you a clue about one of the major problems that birders have with them. Depending on the species, it takes three or four years before a gull acquires its adult feathering. The gull on the right is an adult Ring-bill and the gull on the left is in its second winter. Ringbills look more or less 'adult' in their third summer although those lovely white spots (birders call them mirrors) in the wingtips continue to grow larger with age. An old Ring-billed Gull might be more than 20.

So gulls can live a long time - for wild birds. Still, it seems like half the ones you see are those darned brown young ones. Even their bills, legs and feet change color with age. Roger Tory Peterson will suggest one trick to picking out a Ring-billed Gull is to look for its yellow legs. Unfortunately the youngsters and teenagers have flesh-colored legs like Herring and Great Blackedback Gulls. An adult Ring-billed Gull sports a flashy yellow bill with a sharp black ring around it. Wow! A well named bird. But alas, young Ringbills have a pinkish bill with a black tip.

Historically these graceful little gulls are

scarcer here than on the Cape. Over our 50 plus Christmas bird counts, we average fewer than 50 per count, compared to over 7,000 Herring Gulls and almost 1,500 Great Black-backs.

From the beginning of December through the end of March, it's not hard to see Ring-billed Gulls on Nantucket. After that they head farther north and west to build their nests and lay their three eggs.

There are generally a few Ring-billed Gulls hanging around with the Mallards at Consue and along South Beach near the 'soon-to-be' Great Harbor Yacht Club. And yes, if you happen to see a gull walking around the cars in the Stop and Shop parking lot, you may see it has a yellow bill with a

black ring! I

George C. West creates illustrations for these articles. If you enjoy 'social' birding, join the Nantucket Bird Club at 8 a.m. Sundays in front of Nantucket High School for a two to three hour birding trip. Call 228-1693 for more information.

To hear about rare birds, or to leave a bird report call the Massachusetts Audubon hot line at 1-781- 259-8805. Ask Ken a question at: kenandcindy1@comcast.net.