American Herring Gull (smithsonianus)

(last update: October 30, 2015)

Coordinators:
Amar Ayyash (US)
Bruce Mactavish (Canada)
Dave Brown (Canada)
Mars Muusse (Netherlands)

American Herring Gull (smithsonianus) adult, January 18 2015, West Pubnico, Nova Scotia. Picture: Ronnie Dentremont.

Interesting gull behavior. This Herring and Iceland gulls were diving after bloodworms that come in with the tide. This HERG was successful and added some welcome protein to its diet.

Classic smithsonianus wingtip pattern: long pale tongue on underside of P10 in combination with a full sub-terminal band. Mirror on P9 almost connected to tongue, yet with a broad sub-terminals band. Also full band on P5. Would have been interesting to see if this bird has the black on P6-P7 running up along the outer edge as 'bayonets'.