I was surprised that this gull left Sable so soon after we tagged it.  The seal pupping season on Sable drags on well into late January so there still  would have been plenty of food available for a scavenging gull.  In the winter the Sable gulls feed on the carcasses of dead pups that didn’t quite make it.  While we were out there we noticed that the adult gulls seemed to have seniority over the carcasses, and juveniles (like ACU) often got chased away.  Maybe ACU had lost a few too many battles with the adult gulls on Sable and made its way to Rhode Island where it only had Herring Gulls and Ring-billed Gulls to contend with?

Rob Ronconi, Halifax, NS

Juvenile Great Black-backed Gull ACU was found on Sapowet Beach in Tiverton, RI.

On the move. AAF has been our most frequently sighted Herring Gull from Sable Island. October 3 and 7th found AAF at Beacon St. Dam in Glace Bay, NS. January 22nd AAF was spotted at Beacon, NY, on the shores of the Hudson River. These places are about 1250 km (770 miles) apart. As the gull flies, a journey back to Sable would be 1180 km (730 miles).

Last seen in early October at Beacon St. Dam in Glace Bay, Nova Scotia, Herring Gull AAF was seen again last week on the shorelines of Beacon, New York!  (what a strange coincidence in names??)  On January 22nd about 30 members of the Ralph T. Waterman Bird Club  set out to Beacon, NY, to search the shorelines of the Hudson River for a rare gull.  They were looking for a Slaty-backed Gull (that breeds in western Alaska) which had been spotted here just a few days earlier.  Disappointingly their rare bird wasn’t found that day, but while scanning through a mixed flock of Herring and Ring-billed Gulls (plus a few Great Black-backed Gulls and Iceland Gulls)  they came across AAF among the crowd.

Found late in the afternoon on the shoreline of the Hudson River, Deb Kral an Jesse Jaycox, tell me this is a regular night-roosting spot for gulls.  AAF was first seen that day flying over a local farmers market where it had been eating bread tossed out, then later it joined another group of gulls for dog kibbles along the road side.  Deb tells me that the gulls of this area take off every morning around 7:00 a.m. and are thought to be foraging around the local prison (maybe near a garbage dump?), but return in the evenings to roost.

AAF stands on the frozen water of the Hudson River shoreline in Beacon, NY. Thank you to Deb Kral for this beautiful photo.

Adapting to riverfront park life, AAF dives in for some dog food among the Ring-billed Gulls and along side a juvenile Iceland Gull.

AAF was spotted again three days later by Ken McDermott  in Newburgh, NY, on the western shores of the Hudson River.  This time AAF was on a floating dock along the waterfront of some very nice restaurants, directly across from Beacon, NY.  Ken tells me “it is a place where gulls are normally found though not at this time of the year.  In a “normal” year the Hudson is practically frozen solid with icebreakers keeping the shipping lane open.  This winter has been so mild that there is NO ice on the river and exceedingly little along even the edges.“

Two sightings three days and 1.5 km apart. AAF seems to be frequenting the shorelines and floating docks on the Hudson River between Beacon and the City of Newburgh.

During December and January, Sable's shorelines and dunes get crowded with resident grey seals that come ashore to give birth, feed their pups, and mate. Gulls mill about the seal colony in search of food like placentas from seal births, dead pups, and carcases of seals washed ashore.

The Sable landscape is completely changed in the winter.  The waves are bigger, the wind is stronger, dunes become sand storms, the lush vegetation dies back and the resident population explodes!  Not the human population but the population of native wildlife that migrate to the island.  By mid December, this island is crowded with grey seals that come to Sable to give birth, nurse and fatten up their pups, and mate.  With thousands of seals on the beaches and dunes, it’s a spectacle to behold … the sights and sounds are reminiscent of a zombie movie with seals crawling every which way, moans, groans, snarling and snapping at your feet as the females protect their pups, the young learn to crawl and the big males compete for mates.  They are wonderful, adorable (the pups), powerful, and assertive creatures.  Recent estimates showed that more than 65,000 seal pups are born here annually making Sable the largest grey seal colony in the world – learn more about research that’s been conducted here by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) for several decades now.

Along with the seals come the gulls that “flock” to the island to feed.  The winter medley of Sable gulls is much different from the summer breeding population.  In the summer, Herring Gulls outnumber Great Black-backed Gulls by about 4 to 1.  In winter, Great Black-backed Gulls are the dominant species probably numbering in the thousands (2000-5000 would probably be my best guess).  For every 200 Black-backs there’s maybe 20 Iceland Gulls, 1 Glaucous Gull, the occasional Herring Gull, and other rarities like the Lesser Black-backed Gull.

Why so many gulls on this remote sandbar?  They come here to feed and fatten up for the winter.  In winter, food resources are often scarce for wildlife, but Sable offers a smorgasbord for gulls.  The large seal population presents rich and nutritious meals of protein and fat from placentas left over from births, dead pups that are weaned too young, and seal carcases that are washed ashore after being killed by sharks.

I had the great pleasure to spend New Years on Sable where I worked for 2 weeks in December/January helping colleagues from DFO with their long-term seal research program.  We were conducting seal population census, monitoring pup production, and and recovering tags from seals involved with the Ocean Tracking Network project.

During our “spare” time, three of us that were staying at the East Light Field Camp (Sarah, Damian and myself) were busy trying to catch gulls.  Since they were already cued in on dead seals, we took advantage to set leg-noose carpets around seal carcasses.  While feasting on the open carcases their legs would get caught in the nooses and we were on standby right as this happened.  Winter gull catching is not for the faint of heart… frozen fingers, blowing sand, blood and guts (from the seal carcases and also from the gulls regurgitating on us once they were captured), and aggressive seals.  During our last capture session a snow storm set in just as we were finishing up with our last bird.

Just after sunset, as a snow storm sets in, Sarah and Damian release an adult Great Black-backed Gull after tagging it during our last day on Sable Island.

We measured, weighted and tagged 12 Great Black-backed Gulls this winter with turquoise wing-tags and green leg bands.  With some vigilance this summer, hopefully we’ll discover where these gulls came from (Maine? New Brunswick? Newfoundland?) to forage on this rich bounty of Sable seal flesh!

Rob Ronconi, Halifax, NS

P.S. Special thanks to Simon who cut out all the tags for me back in Halifax!

Damian holds a young Great Black-backed Gull ready for release after tagging. Maybe Damian is contemplating a career change now from seal biologist and photographer (lidgardphotography.com) to ornithologist.

East Light field camp where we stayed for 2.5 weeks in December and January. This field camp is run by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans at the Bedford Institute of Oceanography.

Blue/Turquoise wing-tagged adult Great Black-backed Gull flies by mother grey seal with her pup.

This project started as a partnership with Encana Corporation who operate the Deep Panuke natural gas platform near Sable Island.  ExxonMobil also operates 5 platforms in the region.  All offshore platforms with personnel-on-board (POB) have stand-by vessels that transport cargo and wait nearby in case of emergencies.  After tagging Herring Gulls on Sable Island in June, I notified the captain and crew of these support vessels about the project and asked them to keep watch for our pink-tagged birds.

This fall I received 19 separate reports of pink-tagged gulls in offshore waters around Sable Island, including one from a fishing vessel and the rest from platform support vessels.  The crew sent me photos and stories about what they saw.  One gull (AAJ) was spotted 5 times over the span of a month!  On another occasion, two tagged gulls were perched side-by-side on the bow of a vessel (photo below).  Although gulls are known to roost on vessels and platforms, these birds are also there for a good feed.  At night the deck lights of the ships shine bright into the water which seems to attract small fish to the surface where the gulls can grab them.

Bow riding gull. Pink-tagged gull perched on the bow of an offshore supply vessel. Thanks to Jason for the picture.

Thanks to the captain and crew of the Ryan Leet, Panuke Sea, Venture Sea, and Atlantic Condor for keeping a lookout for these birds.  There have been no sightings since October 24 but hopefully you will catch wind of the first birds returning to Sable in the spring!

Gulls AAP and AAJ perched together on the guard rail of an offshore supply vessel.

AAF loafing around Beacon St. dam in Glace Bay, NS. Photo courtesy of Allan and Cathy Murrant.

Flashing its pink wing bands, Herring Gull AAF is becoming a beacon for passers-by on Beacon St. in Glace Bay, Nova Scotia.  Local bird enthusiasts, Allan and Cathy Murrant who run the Cape Breton Birds website, have seen AAF on October 3rd and 7th, loafing around Beacon St. Dam which seems to be a bit of a hotspot for gulls in transit.  Allan and Cathy had this to say about the pond:

Beacon St dam is a man made pond that was made for one of the coal mines.   When the mine closed they planted grass and made a little park and walking track around it.  The gulls roost and bathe and get food from people feeding the ducks.  We had 8 species of gull there in a 15 minute period one spring.  Its a real good place for ducks, geese and many rarities show up.  We found [AAF] around 3pm on Oct. 3, 2011 and because we visit the dam every day I can say that was the only day we saw it.  We get a lot of one day visits from gulls and we found a banded gull in November one year it was banded in Witless Bay NL we got photos of that and it came again the next year around the same time. 

Eight species of gulls in such a short period of time is quite impressive considering only 4 species of gulls breed in Cape Breton.  Glace Bay is out near the eastern tip of Cape Breton Island which sticks far out into the Atlantic, perhaps making it an attractive stop-over site for many migrant gulls and other species.  This and other reclaimed ponds could provide important roosting habitat for migrant waterbirds during long journeys.  Lets hope that Allan and Cathy can provide us with more sightings before the winter freeze sets in.

AAF spotted on the eastern tip of Cape Breton Island in northern Nova Scotia.

New London in north central PEI is more than 400 km north west of Sable Island were AAR was tagged in the spring.

Herring Gull AAR was first reported in late August at the Island Waste Management site. Two weeks later AAR was loitering in the yards adjacent to New London Bay.

A resident of the area, Trevor Wadman, provided an amazingly crisp photo showing that this bird has started to moult into its winter plumage with dark feathers appearing around the head and neck.  Check out some of Trevor’s other beautiful wildlife photographs on Flickr.

AAR showing signs of autumn moult as the head and neck take on a speckled appearance. Photo courtesy of Trevor Wadman.

A sighting report came in last week confirming that yes, Sable Island gulls also feed at garbage dumps.  Staff at the Island Waste Management Corporation in New London, Prince Edward Island, tracked me down through this blog to report a pink tagged gull that has been frequenting this waste transfer station for several weeks now.   Kevin Curley and staff managed to snap a few pics but Kevin notes that this gull “wouldn’t pose properly” for a nice clean view of the wing-tag number.  Zoomed in on the photo below, the leg band reveals this garbage loving gull as AAR.

Staff also reported seeing a gull with a similar tag that was “red” rather than “pink“.  We only used pink tags on Sable, so the red tagged bird was likely from the DCR study in Massachusetts.  What are the chances of two wing-tagged birds from different studies showing up at the same place at the same time?

Pink tagged gull from Sable Island was seen fleeing from a dumpster at a waste transfer station in New London, PEI. Photo courtesy of Joan Harding.

Still patrolling this facility on September 9th, a photo by Kevin Curley reveals the mystery bird as AAR. The wing tag was faded but a close up of the leg band was undeniable.

Herring Gull AAV on the rigging of a fishing boat near Sable Island. Photo courtesy of Tracey Haines

Tracey noticed in the photo that the gull had another unusual piece of equipment attached to its right leg.  On top of the standard metal leg band issued to all birds handled during research, a special tag was attached for tracking gull movements year-round.  Known by researchers as geolocation tags, this 2-gram device measures and records light levels.  By logging information about sunrise and sunset times, these tiny tags can be used to pin-point a bird’s location on the surface of the earth for each day of the year.  This type of tag has been used on a wide range of seabirds from albatrosses to terns, revealing the epic long-distance migrations that these animals undertake.  Of course the tags must be recovered to download the data, so we will be working extra hard on Sable Island next year to recapture these birds so that their migrations may be revealed.  In the mean time, re-sightings of the pink wing-tags will provide valuable clues.

2-gram geolocation tags scaled next to a door key

The veteran bird spotters that were on this trip to Appledore were baffled when they first encountered bird AAR.  On Appledore, BLACK bands have been used on Great Black-backed Gulls and GREEN on Herring Gulls with one alpha and two numerals.  So neither colour nor codes of Appledore matched this sighting of the young, banded gull.  A series of listserv posts and emails eventually brought this report to me.  Thanks for the report.  Let’s see if we can spot an Appledore gull on Sable now!

A Great Black-backed Gull chick banded on Sable Island (17 June 2011) was re-sighted on Appledore Island in Maine (18 Aug 2011).