Seagulls Don't Exist

That white and grey bird with yellow legs, squawking for your French fries? Not a seagull.

The patch of birds on the pier, chiming "Mine! Mine!" Not seagulls.

The majestic bird, diving head first for a fish: not a seagull.

If you aren't near the sea, you might as well call them baygulls because even though everyone talks about "seagulls," they're not a type of bird—not a genus, family, order, or class of birds—they simply don't exist. What we're actually seeing are several kinds of birds in the order Larus. In any one place, you're probably looking at a dozen different species! Some of them aren't gulls at all, but terns whose squawking flocks can seat terror in your chest. 

How Many Not-Seagulls Are There?

Point to a seagull and you might be misnaming a

• herring gull
• ring-billed gull
• tern
• kittiwake

Search online for "types of gulls" and you'll see pictures of dozens of different kinds. There are 58 species and subspecies in all.

Seagull Sorting Tips

If you're keen to give a gull its proper name, there are tips for identifying them: size, beak colour or pattern, eye patches, and the colour of their wing-tips are key clues. But don't get too confident! Alts happen between individuals just like they happen between humans, and head and leg colour depend on age, winter vs summer, and whether or not they're breeding right then.

Where you are in the world can help narrow down which types of gulls you're probably looking at, but that doesn't stop birds from passing through unusual areas because they're migrating, blown off course, adjusting to changing climate, or maybe just curious. Your quest will be a long one!

Gull ID is something birders either avoid or get really caught up in. Even a book called Gulls Simplified is 208 pages long! Maybe that's why we call them all seagulls.

Volunteer to Help Bird Banders

by Helen Mason

You don't have to be an ornithologist to help with bird banding. Last fall, I volunteered at Prince Edward Point Bird Observatory. This is a volunteer-run research station located on the eastern tip of Prince Edward County where it extends south into Lake Ontario. It's the first landfall for migrating birds coming across from the south in the spring and the last for those heading to warmer climes each fall.

As well as people who recognize the difference between a hermit thrush and a Swainson's thrush, the observatory needs willing hands to put up the nets at dawn, take them down six hours later, hold the collecting bags, and record information provided by the experts. It's easy to do the recording for inexperienced banders who take five minutes to process a bird, but some people know the species so well they can identify, sex, age, and weigh a bird in less than a minute. New scribes need to focus when volunteers such as this man from the United Kingdom examine a gray-cheeked thrush.

Experienced volunteers identify, sex, age, and weigh each bird before banding it.

While volunteers are watching, they learn a lot about familiar species. Note the orangey red on this golden-crowned kinglet, for example. This colouring differentiates it from the ruby-crowned kinglet, which has red without any yellow.

Golden-crowned kinglet

Banders constantly check their bird books as even something as minor as white around the eye can differentiate between this Nashville warbler and a similar species. Fortunately, the head bander is always around to double-check identifications.

Nashville warbler

 Interestingly, it isn't just humans who look out for migrating birds. This sharp-shinned hawk got caught in a net while chasing a smaller bird.

Sharp-shinned hawk

 This barred owl was sitting on a tree in the net lanes where they trap saw-whet owls in the evening. To protect the saw-whets, banders trapped this female, banded her, and then relocated her. Take a look at that beak. No wonder people were so cautious handling the two-year-old.

Barred owl

Are you still wondering how to tell a Swainson's thrush from a hermit thrush? The Swainson's has a brown tail. The hermit's tail is red. They both have speckled breasts, as do all members of the thrush family, including the robin. Learn more by volunteering at or visiting your local banding station.

Hermit thrush

Swainson's thrush

Like all members of the thrush family, this Swainson's thrush has a speckled breast.

Christmas counts - to the birds

By Marie Powell

As we start preparing the annual Christmas turkey (photo by tuchodi), tens of thousands of volunteers are out in search of other birds - on the annual Audobon Christmas Bird Count.

Before the Twentieth Century, many bird and animal species would need to fear the annual hunting parties in search of sport and/or food for the holidays. According to the Audobon website, this annual hunt turned into a bird-counting census on Christmas Day in 1900, when the idea was suggested by ornithologist Frank Chapman. In its first year, the bird count included sites from Ontario to California.

Today, Christmas bird counts are held across North and South America from December 14 to January 5. Bird counting usually takes place in groups within a defined area, and in all kinds of weather. The data collected helps scientists and researchers study the health of bird populations over time. That helps identify declining bird populations - and ultimately, declining populations tell us about the health of a given area or ecosystem.

It's a way of giving back - and when could that be more appropriate than at Christmastime?

For more about Christmas bird counts, or to find one near you, try these links:

Audobon: Christmas bird count: http://birds.audubon.org/christmas-bird-count#

Audobon: Get Involved: http://birds.audubon.org/get-involved-christmas-bird-count

Bird Studies Canada: http://www.bsc-eoc.org/volunteer/cbc/index.jsp?targetpg=cbcparticpate&lang=EN

Marie Powell is a freelance writer and author of Dragonflies are Amazing (Scholastic).

Flocks of fun: The Roger Tory Peterson Institute

Text and photos by Marie Powell

For those who love museums and galleries with a special interest, I can highly recommend spending some time at the Roger Tory Peterson Institute of Natural History in Jamestown, New York State.

The Peterson Field Guide to Birds has been a useful and recommended resource since its first publication in 1934.

The Institute is filled with Peterson’s sketches and paintings, as well as other works of art and exhibits.

I recently had a chance to join a tour of the archives given by Mark Baldwin, director of education since 1998, during the Highlights Chautauqua conference in July.

It's a fascinating place, full of displays and information.

I learned that Peterson trained as an artist and painter, but he also became known as a writer, photographer, filmmaker, and lecturer. Born in Jamestown in 1908, he loved to escape into the “natural world.” He bought his first camera with his paper route money as a child.

He used a variety of tools to help him create his well-known field guides, and the beautiful paintings of birds in their natural habitat that adorn the walls of the Institute.

Some examples include field notes and sketches, 35-mm transparencies, and “study skins” like this passenger pigeon (left).

There are about 200,000 transparencies in the archives, Baldwin said, as well as “study skins” of various birds that date back as far as 1892.

We also had a tour of the building and an introduction to its architecture from retired architect Marlin Casker.

The facility was built using the rural "Adirondack" style that's well known in the western part of NY State, Casker told us. In other words, it looks a little like the large log-cabin-style buildings that wealthy families built as their summer homes after the civil war.

The architects and builders used stone, natural and finished wood, as well as lodge-pole and white pine. It's very striking inside and out, with high ceilings, arches, and display areas.

I love birds, so I found lots to interest me at the institute, including some very cute displays like this Emperor Penguin (right).

Find out more about the Institute and about Roger Tory Peterson on the website: http: www.rtpi.org/

Marie Powell is the author of Dragonflies are Amazing! (Scholastic Canada).