[CT Birds] Gull Stuff 8

[Dennis Varza]

Here are some more observations on gulls. If you have any corrections
or additions I would really appreciate them.

Dennis Varza
Fairfield

One of my goals is to try and figure out how many individuals of the  
rare gulls wintered in Connecticut. To do this we need to know  
something about their movements.

 From looking at banding recoveries of Herring Gulls nesting in the  
Norwalk Islands and from general reading, first Year birds travel  
farther from the nesting area than older birds. This seems to be true  
for other species. Most of the Glaucous and Iceland Gulls found in  
Connecticut are first winter birds. First winter Ring-billed Gulls  
pass through the state in September and October and are returning  
north in March. I’ll bet if one went to Maryland and Virginia in the  
winter most of the them would be first winter.

Understanding winter movements within the state is the real  
challenge. It would be nice if we could color mark the gulls but that  
will not happen. Imagine an Iceland Gull hanging out on Long Beach in  
Stratford. I imagine that it would have no trouble flying across to  
Seaside Park or to Milford Pt. for that matter. How far do they  
really range? What about birds in Hartford? Do they ever travel to  
the coast? My guess would be that it depends upon the availability of  
food. When there were landfills they most likely stayed put. Now,  
when the weather is harsh, I can imagine them moving to the coast for  
a while, then moving back north.

Keeping these ideas in my mind I have been trying to figure out how  
many rare gulls visited the state.

Topic 1 Small Gulls
Bonaparte’s Gull activity seems to be pretty much over. Last week I  
was seeing 50 to 60 birds each at Southport Beach and Cove Island  
Park. Immature gulls made up about 1/3 of the birds. Over the weekend  
there were no Bonaparte’s Gulls at Southport Beach.

Topic 2 White-winged Gulls
Glaucous Gull
There were 13 reports of Glaucous Gull in 11 towns, all but one were  
reported as (1W) (1-2W). I assume it was the same bird seen in  
Bridgeport and Stratford (6 days apart). One was seen in  
Weathersfield Cove all month of December (Steve Kotchko). and also  
may be responsible for the sightings in Hartford, West Hartford, and  
Windsor, (4 records). Also, there were 2 days when 2 separate birds  
were seen. Other than the Hartford bird, It looks like Glaucous Gulls  
generally do not set up a winter territory. My estimate is that there  
were a maximum of 9 different birds and a minimum of 4.

Nov 29 (1), Dec (8), Jan (1), Feb (2), Mar 26 (1)

Iceland Gull
Iceland Gulls have a distinctive sub-species the Kumlien’s Gull. It  
nests in eastern Canada and winters on the east coast. There were 7  
records. The thing to remembers is that no reference to Kumlien’s  
does not necessarily mean a non-Kumlien’s I will look at them later.  
There were 29 records of Iceland Gull. The earliest Record was 11/13,  
The last record was 3/22.

The large number of reports makes interpretation difficult.  
Individuals have been known to hang out in an area but how much do  
the roam is open to question. There have been some days when 2-3  
different birds have been seen at different locations on the same day.

In eastern Connecituct there were 3 reports in Plainfield. 12/30 to  
1/21. Only one sighting was aged (ad). In Waterford 2 (1W) birds were  
observed on 11/15. (likely passage birds) and one unknown aged bird  
on 1/21 Smith Cove.

In the Hartford Area there were 11 reports all were first winter  
birds except for 2 un-aged birds. Records ranged from 12/6 to 3/20  
[Dec (2) Jan (3), Feb (1), Mar (5)] Duplicate locations include  
Wethersfied Cove, Batterson Pond, and West Hartford Reservoir #6. If  
we assume the same bird in those each location. it would drop things  
down to 6 individuals.

On the shore there were 12 reports from Greenwich to Madison.  There  
was an (Ad) on Long Beach in Stratford for 2 days. and there was a  
(1W) bird in the area of Oyster River to Merwin Pt. from March 15 to  
30. that brings things down to 8 records, There was a (2W) bird in  
Fairfield on 3/15  and a U aged bird in Madison on 3/22 both likely  
passage birds. The remaining bird were un-aged and  (Ad) New Haven,  
and a (1W) bird in Stratford.

With regards to Kumlian’s Gulls, records ranged from 11/19 to 4/3.  
Nick Bonomo found 3 different aged birds in the Windsor-Bloomfield  
Landfill. and another (1W) at the Hartford Riverside Park. Boat  
Launch. On the shore I had an (Ad) in Bridgeport in early March while  
Nick had an (Ad) and a (1W) in Bridgeport in early April, likely  
passage birds. That would make 7 Kumlian’s  (Ad)-2 (3W)-1 (2W)-1 (1W)-3

All together I would estimate 25 to 30 bird were observed iin  
Connecticut. 7 of which were Kumlian’s.

Lesser Black-backed Gull
All four age classes were reported. Adults are known to take up  
residence in an area during the winter, often for several years  
running.  There was one resident adult gull in Westport (Burial Hill  
Beach) that has been seen for several years. The earliest record was  
15 Sept. and the last record I have is 26 Mar.
There was another resident adult gull in Weathersfield, Weathersfield  
Cove. The earliest record was 13 Dec. and the last record was 17 Feb.  
There was likely a third resident in the New London area. there was  
only 2 reports, but considering the lack of coverage, what would you  
expect. One was at the Waterford High School on 12/12 and New London,  
Smith cove 1/29

There were repeated sightings of adults at Bridgeport’s Beardsley Pk.  
but they were inconsistent (Dec 11, Jan 26, 29, . I covered  
Bridgeport regularly so if a bird was being a resident, it would have  
been seen more frequently. This leads to the following questions: Are  
the Bridgeport sightings from the Westport or Hartford birds? Are the  
sightings from passage birds?

There were 5 reports of 3rd winter birds. 2 in Bridgeport at Seaside  
Park 10 days apart, and 3 inland, Since this plummage is very  
transitory it seems unlikely that there were 4 separate birds. If we  
assume 1 bird then we see a bird going from Hartford, to the shore  
and back inland. (1/16 Bloomfied), (2/10-20 Bridgeport), (3/19 East  
Hartford), (3/20 Farmington).
There were 2 reports of 2nd winter birds.(1/10 Madison), (3/25  
Bristol). One or two birds?

There were 4 reports of 1st winer birds. 2 in November, and 2 in  
March. These seem to be clearly passage birds.

In Conclusion I would estimate that there were 3 to 5 Adult gulls  
wintering in the state. There was 1 to 2 third winter gulls. and 6  
transient 1w and 2w gulls. That makes for a minimum of 10 birds and a  
maximum of 13 birds.