Birds According to Peterson

Joe Meche is president of the North Cascades Audubon Society and also serves the chapter as newsletter editor and birding programs coordinator. He has been watching birds for more than 50 years and photographing birds and landscapes for more than 30 years. He has written more than 100 articles for Whatcom Watch.

In his brief description of this visual category of birds, Roger Tory Peterson refers to them simply as “Gulls and gull-like birds.” He was attempting to be concise, of course, but the truth is that this group of birds includes some of the avian world’s most incredible flying machines. From the albatrosses with their large wing spans to the diminutive petrels and least terns, as well as the long-distance-migration- champion Arctic terns, the aerialists are as much at home on the wing as the divers and swimmers are in their watery habitat.

Along with the evolutionary adaptation to fly, the aerialists often astound us with their in-flight maneuvers, whether in pursuit of food or in trying to protect their food from parasitic birds, often of their own species. Aerialists often do things on the wing that catch us off guard and elicit oohs and aahs from the observer. They execute these maneuvers effortlessly, and the sky is truly their element.

Perhaps the best known birds in this group are the gulls, owing to the fact that numerous species are found throughout the world and often live in close proximity to humans. In a natural setting, gulls feed on fish and other marine animals whenever and wherever they find them. They will also eat small mammals, eggs and young of other birds, carrion, and anything else they might find in the course of their day. They are the ultimate omnivores – eating whatever they find in order to survive.

Gulls are also well known since they are opportunistic feeders and see humans as a reliable source of food. Gulls are energetic and ever watchful, seizing every opportunity to consume everything from handouts at the local waterfront park to the things we discard at the local garbage dumps and landfills. Landfills have always been good places to study gulls, as well as other birds for that matter.

Within the family of gulls are birds of varying sizes ranging from the great black-backed gull to the diminutive and aptly named little gull. The predominant color of adult gulls is white and the young birds are easily distinguished by their gray and gray-brown color. While the smaller gulls are more easily identified, the larger species always pose more of a challenge for birders, especially in winter plumage. Gulls provide birders with an ongoing lesson in the subtleties of field observation and identification. Throw in a hybrid or two and the debates will ensue.

Locally, our most numerous gull species is the large glaucous-winged gull. This year-round resident nests in a variety of locations, most of which are in close proximity to water. They nest on breakwaters, roof tops, pilings, or anyplace they can find suitable purchase for their nests. The sites they choose also provide at least a semblance of protection from predatory birds and mammals.Throughout their range, the larger gulls constantly encounter man made attempts to prevent them from nesting on rooftops and pilings, since their collective droppings can be quite messy.

Following in the wake of the glaucous-winged gulls, local birders find ring-billed gulls through most of the year while other species tend to pass through or stop by during migrations. Mew gulls are often quite numerous in the area during the winter months, with occasional sightings of Thayer’s and herring gulls, while California gulls can be seen during fall migration. The Heermann’s gull is quite distinctive with its bright orange bill. It often passes through the area unseen during spring and fall migrations, especially since it favors resting and foraging places along the outer shorelines such as Sandy Point and Point Roberts

As we continue in the family of larids, we come upon the true aerialists in this broad family of birds – the terns. Terns are generally smaller than gulls and tend to be slimmer with straight bills and pointed wings. These birds are fish eaters and display spectacular feeding techniques when they dive bill-first to snare their prey. Terns are colonial nesters and their nests are simple scrapes on a sandy beach or other suitable terrain. The Caspian tern nesting colony that thrived on the Bellingham waterfront in 2010 was a natural phenomenon that we’ll never see here again. We must travel to a more tern-friendly area to witness the spectacle that was once in our own backyard.

During spring and fall migrations, the county’s bays and estuaries are often alive with common terns which are frequently accompanied by other members of the family of aerialists – the jaegers. Of the three types of jaegers, the one most often seen attempting to steal fish from the terns is the parasitic jaeger. Once again, the in-flight skills of the aerialists come into play as a jaeger first causes a tern to release its grip on a recently caught fish and then catches it in mid-air.

Less known to most birders are the pelagic birds, and this is understandable since these are the birds of the open ocean. The birds that make up this group of aerialists spend the majority of their lives on the wing at sea. The small amount of time they spend on land is during the breeding season, beginning with courtship rituals and through feeding and caring for the young birds until they fledge. The rest of their year involves endless travel in search of food and out of sight of most humans.

Off the Washington coast, numerous species of pelagic birds ply their trade. Some can be seen year round while others are observed during migration, up and down the coast. A ten-hour boat ride from Westport, for instance, will take you offshore to the edge of the continental shelf. By traveling this relatively short distance off the coast, the observer is treated to close encounters with albatrosses, shearwaters, fulmars, and petrels, as well as certain species of gulls and terns that you might not see from the shore. If you go to the web site http://westportseabirds.com you will find all the information you need to become a pelagic birder and literally expand your birding horizons.

When you observe large, striking birds on the wing displaying incredible flying skills, those are Peterson’s aerialists. Imagine if you will a walk along a beach anywhere on the planet, without gulls and their kin. It would certainly be a different or even sadder place without these gregarious birds, most of which have learned to live with us, despite our shortcomings and our inability to lift free from the bonds of terra firma.