July 30, 2022
Salish Sea, Pacific Northwest
We have one kind of gull in the Salish Sea who lives here all year-round, our default gull: the Olympic, which is actually a hybrid of two regional species, the Glaucous-winged and Western gulls (while there are some birds that look like Glaucous-wingeds, there’s ornithological debate: are there are any genetically purely GWGUs, or are they all some mix after thousands of years of interbreeding producing hybrids more successful than the parent species). Olympics (&/or Glaucous-wingeds) are the only gulls who breed here in the Salish Sea. During the rest of the year we get other kinds who spend some portion of their lives in the waters of the San Juan islands.
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Late summer is a really nice time for those of us who love gulls. The Heermann’s arrive in mid July but only stick around until October, and they’re only offshore. Bonaparte’s are even harder to see since they move around in big flocks, only rarely along the shores of the island where I live. California gulls are reliable visitors but only briefly pass through between late July and September, stopping in big flocks to feed on their way westward to the open coast from their breeding grounds inland. Ring-billed and Herring gulls for some reason rarely appear out in the islands although they are abundant on the mainland of the Salish Sea.
Then there’s the Mew gulls (now called Short-billed) who actually spend most of their year here, just departing for a few months to breed, some of them just north of here in British Columbia. They leave in April and return at the end of July.
So it was wonderful to hear distinctive mewing calls last week down at the bay, which signaled the arrival of the Mew gulls. Welcome Mews! Unlike the Olympic gulls, Mews are more social so you see lots of interaction among them (also true for Californias, Heermann’s and Bonaparte’s).
When I stopped to watch them I could see there was actually a mix of gulls on the seaweedy sand/mudflat where they foraged.
Late summer is a good time for me to practice gull identification — pretty challenging beyond the basics of adult species ID, for me at least. Immature gulls are tricky. Besides the mottled brown plumage most immature gulls have, their bare parts are different colors. Like the imm Mew in front, below: it has pink legs (instead of yellow) and a partly black bill (instead of yellow). All gulls look different at earlier stages of their lives, with each molt appearing different. And some mature in 3 years while others take 4 (the bigger the gull the longer maturation). Then there’s hybrids lol. I admit I make assumptions based on who is usually here at certain seasons. I’m certain I’ve overlooked rare gulls.
Short video showing some desultory socializing among these Mew, California and Olympic gulls on the low tide flat.
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There was some foraging, some grooming, even some midday snoozing by these mostly Mew gulls, but I got the sense their behavior shows them settling in to their winter home. A certain amount of scuffling. Do they meet up again here from different summer breeding sites, do they recognize each other? What’s it like for the newest members of the tribe, here for their first winter? And I have to wonder how the Olympic gulls feel about all these summer arrivals. Come winter, except for rarities, it’ll be just them and the Mews on these beaches. Is summer party time in the Salish Sea for gulls?
Addendum:
August 2, 2022
Yesterday the tide was not quite as low, and the gulls were chillin on the dock railing instead of on the beach, since the most productive part of the bay was underwater. There were a few Olympics in there, as best I could tell, but it was mostly Mews. They are extremely social and talkative!
Mews get stirred up easily but they don’t get stressed about it. Maybe it’s safety in numbers. While I was on the beach watching them, they all flew up a few times and then settled back down on the railing. An eagle flying by will do that although I didn’t notice one this time (but they might have).
Eventually Mr O came walking back up the headwalk from where he’d been working on the boat. The Mews did their thing, flying up as he approached and settling back down behind him.
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But they got their payback for the inconvenience: the headwalk is covered with birdshit lol. It’s the season!
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High overcast to partly sunny in the PNW islands. Temperatures pleasantly moderate here by the ocean, mid 60s. Calm.
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