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cottonmanifestoUrban species # 066: Herring gull
Larus argentatusLarger and more aggressive than
ring-billed gulls, herring gulls are nonetheless more wary of humans than their smaller cousins. That isn't to say that they haven't benefitted from human changes to the environment. In the twentieth century, the breeding range of herring gulls spread from Maine southward down the coast to North Carolina. This expansion was mainly due to the increased food resources provided by open garbage dumps and the practice of discarding fish processing waste into the ocean. The increase in herring gull territory came at the expense of other birds such as terns and laughing gulls, who suffered competition, and outright predation, as herring gulls will eat the eggs and nestlings of other birds.
In the city herring gulls can be seen in small numbers looming over larger crowds of ring-billed bulls, on fresh or salt water, on dumpsters or in parking lots. Often the herring gulls in these mixed flocks are youngsters, who are dirty brown through their second winter. Through the third winter their head and neck are dirty in appearance, and they have the same dark ring on their bill that ring-billed gulls are named for. In their adult plumage, the ring is gone, replaced with a red spot that is a target for their young--the chick pecks at the red spot to stimulate regurgitation. During the breeding season, adults have clear white feathers on their head and body. The tendency for gulls to hybridize sometimes provides challenges for birders. In Boston, however, it is a safe guess to say that a gray-winged gull is a ring-bill if small, and a herring gull if large.
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