AMB Class #11: Gulls (really, it's not all that boring, I promise)

It's inevitable that we'll have a unit on gulls.  After all, they are everywhere you look.  Parking lots, bodies of water, flying overhead.  They sit in large groups, in long line-ups, and have an unmistakable shape and wing-beat when overhead.  They are in songs (Jackson Browne, in Sky Blue and Black, "of the seagulls circling the sand") and books (oh, those days of Jonathan Livingston Seagull) and logos around the globe.  They are, perhaps, the most ubiquitous of birds.

Front Range of Colorado,
from Aurora Reservoir

So why, then, do most birders cringe when they hear of gulls?  Or to say, quoting an expert birding friend, "I don't do gulls"?

Never mind all that.  Gulls are pulling me in.  I've spent some time this winter staring at thousands of gulls at Aurora Reservoir, searching - unsuccessfully - for a couple of rock stars of the gull world in Colorado:  a Slaty-backed Gull and an Iceland Gull.  Did I mention "unsuccessful"?  On the positive side, I've seen a few Lesser- and Greater Black-backed Gulls, along with the more plentiful - in Colorado, anyway, Herring and Thayer's and California.  It goes without saying that I've seen lots of Ring-billed Gulls, the default gull in our state.

Aurora Reservoir
January 2014

Ring-billed Gull
Denver, CO

So I enjoy the reading assignments on the gull unit.  And yes, dear AMB mentors, some of us do read the optional readings, especially the great stuff in one of my favorite resources, "Identify Yourself".  Bill Thompson III, the author of this delightful tome, takes gull ID to its simplest.  He says that there are just two things you need to know about gulls.  First, there are only three basic kinds of gulls:  large, medium, and small.  Second, gulls all start out brown and end up gray or black and white.

Wow.  That makes it pretty simple.  Okay, maybe it's not that simple, but it makes for a nice framework for studying these birds.  

Herring Gull
Denver City Park 2012

Our gull expert and guest lecturer on the topic chooses a different way of distinguishing gulls:  Nick Komar presents profiles of gulls from the most common in Colorado to the least.  Our four most common gulls are the Ring-billed, Herring, California, and Franklin's.  

Herring Gull (Juvenile, or I should say 1st or 2nd Cycle, but I'm still figuring that out.  Suffice to say:  not adult)
Florida 2011

California Gull
Point Reyes National Seashore (CA) 2013

Franklin's Gull
Denver City Park 2013

Franklin's Gulls
Nebraska 2012

Uncommon but expected in Colorado are Bonaparte's, Lesser Black-backed, Thayer's, and Glaucous.  

Bonaparte's Gulls - with bubblegum pink legs and heads tucked
Chatfield State Park 2012

Rare but regular:  Black-legged Kittiwake, Little, Sabine's, Mew, and Great Black-backed.  Lucky for me, I saw at least one of these in Alaska a few years back, and was also lucky to have somebody ID it for me at the time, when I had even less of a clue about birds - and gulls, specifically - than I do now.

Black-legged Kittiwake
Kenai Fjords, AK 2011

Then follow the very rare in Colorado (Laughing, Iceland, Glaucous-winged, and Western), and the vagrants (Ross's, Ivory, Black-headed, and Slaty-backed).  Now, I may not have seen all of these birds in Colorado, but, again, my travels have served well for at least a few species:

Laughing Gull
New Orleans, LA 2012

Laughing Gull 1st or 2nd cycle
New Orleans, LA 2012

Laughing Gull ( adult)
Florida 2011

Glaucous-winged Gull
Kenai Fjords, AK 2012

Western Gull
Point Reyes National Seashore 2013

Western Gull (1st or 2nd cycle)
Point Reyes National Seashore 2013

Nick gives us details of the various gulls, and the field marks, and all manner and kind of other information on the different species.  As happens quite frequently in these classes, my brain fills up quickly, and I'm left just completely overwhelmed.  I figure that I'll have to rely on notes and books, and study at a later date.

Of course, when the later date arrives, I've forgotten far too much of what I've learned, and so, as I do so frequently in similar cases, I turn to my photos for a review.  I'm kind of amazed and overwhelmed that in such a short time birding, I've captured images of so many different gulls......and the odd and wondrous thing is that - at the time - I had no idea how remarkable some of these birds were.

Gray-headed Gull
South Africa 2013

Lava Gull
Galapagos 2013

Swallow-tailed Gull
Galapagos 2013