Gulls—Not “Seagulls”

Joe Meche is a member of the board of directors of the North Cascades Audubon Society and has been the editor of the chapter newsletter for the past six years. Joe has been photographing birds and landscapes for over thirty years and has been watching birds for more than fifty years.

I’d like to begin this month’s installment of Beaks and Bills by saying that I like gulls. Somewhere along the line, gulls have gained a less-than-positive reputation, in spite of the fact that they can be quite entertaining and are just about everywhere.

When many other birds are hard to find, there are always gulls to observe and study. The variation in plumage within a single species is enough to keep you busy for quite some time. While gulls are often thought of as being seabirds and more closely associated with beaches and saltwater bays, some species live inland on freshwater lakes, rivers, and marshes.

To a great extent, gulls are the quintessential opportunists—and they’ll eat just about anything. Many gulls will eat the eggs and young of other birds that nest in the same nesting colonies. Gulls will also intimidate and take food from other birds. It’s a common sight to see a gull carry a clam or mussel aloft and drop it to crack open on the rocks below.

Next time you’re birding at Semiahmoo, notice how gulls have learned to use the hard surface of the resort’s parking lot. It’s difficult to imagine but gulls will even eat fairly large starfish when the opportunity presents itself and hunger rules.

Of all birds, gulls have a closer relationship with humans than most other species. Gulls often rely on handouts from beachgoers, scraps from fishing boats, grubs and mice unearthed and flushed from fields by farm machinery, and have been known to take advantage of swarms of grasshoppers as an available food source. A case in point is the California gull, which is honored with a monument in Salt Lake City for saving early Mormon settlers from the hordes of grasshoppers that threatened their crops in 1848.

Another thing to consider is that most large landfills and garbage dumps offer great classrooms for the observation and study of different types of gulls in different plumages, if you can handle the smell.

The close relationship with humans was not always a good thing for gulls. Gull populations along the Atlantic coast faced serious threats from man in the nineteenth century when gulls were shot for their meat, nesting colonies were raided for the eggs, and the millinery trade took a toll on the birds to provide feathers for women’s hats. As difficult as it might be to believe, there was a time not too long ago when there was an insatiable demand for the feathers of wild birds to adorn hats and gowns.

Nevertheless, gulls persevered and their populations would begin to rebound after the millinery gunners were silenced. The first meeting of the American Ornithological Union (AOU) took place in 1883 and its Bird Protection Committee began to assemble reports on the status of bird populations. It was three years later, on February 11, 1886, that George Bird Grinnel proposed the formation of an association for the protection of wild birds and their eggs.

The association that he founded was the first Audubon Society. These events represented the beginning of the conservation movement in America. We all owe a bit of gratitude to the AOU and to George Bird Grinnel, and gulls and other colonial seabirds owe their very existence to these early conservationists.

The family Laridae is comprised of gulls and their close allies, the skuas, jaegers, terns and skimmers. Gulls are considered by most to be superb flyers. They have strong bodies with long, wide wings, long legs and webbed feet. Of the 46 species of gulls that are found in the world, 27 can be found in North America.

Gulls range in size from the smallest and appropriately named little gull, to the large great black-backed gull, which has a wingspan of 65 inches. In the West, we have 21 species with occasional sightings of three additional species.

To say that gulls are gregarious would be a major understatement. They roost together in flocks and breed together in large and small colonies in a variety of habitat types. As with most species that are gregarious, there is usually a wealth of associated communication that reaches most human ears as noise.

One of the more memorable sounds on any beach in the world, along with the relentless sound of the surf, is the sound made by flocks of gulls in almost-constant communication with each other. Not everyone has fond memories of the harsh cries of most gulls, but you can never deny their role in the montage that is the seashore.

Male and female gulls look alike, and the majority of gulls have one brood of young each year. While the chicks are able to walk about shortly after hatching, they are not considered to be totally precocial since they can’t feed themselves. The adults regurgitate food to feed the down-covered chicks, which, in some species, peck away at the red spot on the adults’ bills to prompt feeding.

Gulls share many characteristics and they possess a unique adaptation that enables them to drink either salt or fresh water—they eliminate excess salt through a pair of glands located on top of their skulls, just above the eyes.

Each of these glands is composed 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 clear fluid through the ducts into the nasal cavities, and is eliminated through the birds’ nostrils. Once again, we can only marvel at yet another classic example of adaptive evolution.

In Whatcom County, 14 gull species have been recorded, with the glaucous-winged being the most abundant. Breakwaters around county marinas and warehouse rooftops provide many roosting and nesting opportunities. During the breeding season, you can drive along Roeder Avenue and observe many downy chicks on the rooftops of the industrial buildings on both sides of the road. The flat rooftops of the Bellingham Cold Storage complex provide ample space for nesting.

The breakwater at the Blaine marina supports numerous nesting pairs of glaucous-winged gulls. Other common gulls in Whatcom County include the mew, Bonaparte’s, and ring-billed gulls, with sporadic-to-regular sightings of Heermann’s, herring, Thayer’s, and California gulls.

An exceptional read about gulls is “Gulls, A Social History,” by Frank Graham, Jr., the long-time field editor of Audubon magazine. Graham writes eloquently about birds that he sees as attractive and remarkable. He points out that in the relationship between man and gulls, it is only man that has turned into a pest.

This book offers a wonderful insight into the lives of gulls and provides a history of another group of birds that has persevered, despite the attempts of some men to destroy them for their own benefit.

So, don’t be so quick to ignore the gulls. Again, they are plentiful and always seem to be around, no matter where you are. Just like anything else, the more you get to know them, the more you’ll appreciate them. And just think, next time you’re waiting in a long line at the dump, you can check out the gulls. They’ll be there, more than likely. §