Dumpster Diving for Gulls

The gull has been a symbol of the sea for a long time. Artists cannot draw a seascape without including a few soaring gulls. Most of us have encountered this big, obvious bird at the beach and are content to call it a "sea" gull.

However, there is an enormous variety of gull species, all having their own proper names. Fifty years ago there was only the herring gull residing in southern New England, and not very many of them either. Since then there has been an explosion in gull populations, and now we have three species that are more than abundant here. The herring gull is still the classic gray and white gull with the thick yellow bill and the ringing call.

In any trip to the coast, one can't help seeing the herring gull as well as the large dark gull with the long name, the greater black-backed gull. This aggressive and even predatory gull has invaded from farther north and is pressing its smaller cousin for living space. The third common gull has invaded us from the west, and is called the ring-billed gull.

The stronghold of the ring-billed gull is the large lakes and rivers of the interior continent. Their numbers are now so great that they spill over the land all the way to the Atlantic. They are often found in plowed, cut, or grassy fields searching for grubs like a robin. The adult bird is a carbon copy of the herring gull, except for its much smaller size and the black ring on its bill.

If one is what one eats, then the gull is not always the glamorous, noble, high-flying species we have met in art and fable. Gulls are mostly scavengers, adapted to scrounge the mud flats at low tide for dead or dying food, or pick it up as it floats on the surface of the sea. They are also adept at stealing from ducks and terns, not just the catches of these "hard working" fisher birds, but also their eggs and young during the nesting season.

When we are searching for birds on the coast we birders generally ignore the gulls, labeling them "trash birds," which, as you shall learn, is more than appropriate. We prefer to seek out more exotic fare, since gulls are present everywhere and in great numbers. However, there are some gull species that do occur in southern New England in tiny numbers during the winter, so a band of birders will hold their breath and visit the gulls in their alternate habitat, the inland dump.

The biggest and most fertile dump locally is in Manchester, Connecticut, where a few iceland, glaucous, lesser black-backed, and even a yellow-legged and a Thayer's gull have been reported this winter among the clouds of common gulls. Unfortunately, our group had spent too much time at the coast, and arrived as the dump was closing. Most of the gulls had already departed for their night roosts on the Connecticut River.

However, there were hundreds of crows still there and even a few vultures sailing around close to our heads. The biggest surprise was a red-tailed hawk sitting on a pile of refuse, hoping to snatch one of those other dump denizens, the loathsome, lowly rat. Our caravan drove to the top of this huge muddy mountain and got out to scan the few gulls that were left. The aroma was only vaguely sickening sweet, and beneath our feet was a squishy crust of unknown origin.

Like the rat, the gulls live on this unintentional handout from humans, but they are also not averse to the more deliberate welfare of those who spread bread. Earlier we had stopped at a fast-food place, where a man was feeding the gulls in the parking lot. They surrounded him like flies, hovering to catch in mid-air the scraps he tossed. Now you know why gulls are now present at all our local parking lots. It is usually the ring-billed gull, gleaning nearer the source of their sustenance, either the pavement or dumpster.

What do you think? Have you been properly introduced yet to the sea gull? Now you know this bird and his close cousins, the dump gull and the mall gull. Don't count the gull out yet, though. There is still much to learn and admire about this handsome, resourceful creature.