Great Black-backed Gull (Larus marinus)

(last update: July 12, 2015)

Great Black-backed Gull (Larus marinus) 6F3 2CY, October 04 2010, Nauset Beach, Cape Cod, MA. Picture: Alvaro Jaramillo.

Banded as pullus on Appledore Island, on July 09 2009 and this is the first reported observation of the bird since the end of the 2009 breeding season.

Last stage of complete moult; no old primaries left, outer primaries still growing.

Alvaro Jaramillo, Senior Biologist at the San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory, spotted a banded Great Black-backed Gull on October 4 at Nauset Beach, Cape Cod, MA. He was in the Boston area to give a talk when he spotted 6F3. He says, “Since I don’t get to see Great BB here in California I was paying special attention to them while I was out there and low and behold one is color banded! I figured it must be one of your birds. “