Great Black-backed Gulls, which live on the East Coast and the Great Lakes region of the U.S. as well as Atlantic Canada and Northern Europe, are the largest gulls on earth. They have been called the “King of Gulls” and the “King of the Atlantic waterfront.” In coastal Massachusetts where I live, these majestic birds are a familiar sight.
They are disliked by some for their “apparent bullying of smaller gulls and terns, as well as [their] voracious appetite for the eggs and young of other shorebirds” (on Plum Island MA, there is concern about them harming nesting Piping Plovers and Least Terns). John James Audubon was not a fan of them, and called them “tyrants.” Probably because of the places and times I tend to see them, I’ve only seen a Great Black-back behaving aggressively once, and it wasn’t very aggressive...just a bit irritable towards a smaller gull over some food. At times they can be (as you will see in the videos below) quite adorable.
“Once mated, [Great Black-backed Gulls] are monogamous. They will return to the same breeding area year after year in the hopes of rekindling their union with their mates. The oldest [Black-back] on record lived to be at least 26 years old (based on banding and sighting records) so there is a good chance that long, meaningful relationships can form between these birds.”
The Appledore Project on Appledore Island, Maine has been banding Great Black-backed and Herring Gulls since 2004. In late February 2022, I saw three of their banded Great Black-backs on a partially-thawed freshwater pond near the ocean in New Hampshire, on a cold (mid-30’s) and extremely windy day, in a group of 50+ gulls (including Herring and Ring-billed) which seemed to be having a bathing and feeding party. A shaky handheld video I took from the car window:
On several occasions, I’ve seen another of their banded Great Black-backs who is at least twenty years old. This is a video I made of him and a banded Herring Gull (also banded by Appledore) on Plum Island MA in December 2021…I was using a rock as a tripod so it’s also a little shaky...
Even John James Audubon “did appreciate […] the gull’s flying skills. He wrote that the flight of the Great Black-backed Gull can be ‘firm, steady, at times elegant, rather swift.’“ This is a sequence I took a few days ago on a fishing pier in Rockport, Mass., which I hope will give you a sense of how graceful these birds are in flight...
A couple recent pics from the New Hampshire coast...
And one of a small rock ledge in Rockport, where there are often 20 or 30 or more Great Black-backed Gulls and other gulls, and cormorants…
In early March, I saw a group of 40+ Great Black-backed and Herring Gulls on the same freshwater pond in New Hampshire, on a warmer (40° F), rainy and less windy day. There were fewer Great Black-backs there this time, and they weren’t being as vocal. A video I took of this second bathing (not so much feeding, this time) party (there was a larger group of gulls standing on the ice about 20 yards away)...
🌻🌻🌻
It’s 50° F and sunny here on the North Shore of Massachusetts this morning, with an expected high of 65°. Every day the past week there have been Mallards and a pair of Hooded Mergansers on the pond in my backyard, and a couple days ago I saw a pair of Green-winged Teal (the first ones I’ve seen this season) mating there. Flocks of Canada Geese have been passing through.
🌻YOUR TURN: WHAT’S UP IN NATURE IN YOUR AREA?🌻
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