Gulls in the Desert

By BRUCE LUND

Gulls and the southern Nevada desert would seem to be a contradiction in terms. After all, anyone interested in finding gulls is hardly likely to head for the Mojave Desert, or even southern Nevada, for what are mainly thought of as seabirds. However, gull reality is they are a large, cosmopolitan group of birds with a worldwide distribution with some 44 species distributed around all the continents, including Antarctica. Gulls live wherever there is any kind of reliable water such as oceans, lakes, rivers, reservoirs, etc.

As a group gulls have all the attributes to make them successful. They are strong fliers and swimmers. They eat anything and thrive on an all-encompassing menu including fish, insects, bird nestlings and chicks including each other’s, garbage, and on and on.

They show an amazing capacity for adaptation and many have expanded and are expanding their ranges around the world in concert with expansions of human settlements both coastal and inland.

Of course, that we have gulls is no surprise to local folks who boat, fish, swim, and/or just occasionally visit Lake Mead or Lake Powell, Bowman Reservoir, the Virgin and Colorado River, the lakes at Pahranagat National Wildlife Refuge in Alamo or Crystal Reservoir at Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge in Pahrump, and any of the artificial lakes in Las Vegas neighborhoods. Looking at gulls in these terms, they are really all around us.

I think it’s safe to say that most folks know a “gull” when they see one. They’re more or less universally recognizable as medium to large white birds with gray to black wings, raucous calls, usually in flocks, and on or somewhere near water. But things deteriorate rapidly after the easy, “It’s a gull” call, even for experienced birders.

Gulls are tough to ID, including our two most common species, the Ring-billed and California gull. Mature adults of both species have white heads and undersides, pale gray backs, and sport black and white wing tips – in short, they have the typical plain vanilla “gull” appearance.

To figure out which one is in front of us, we need to turn to the commonly used determination by bill spots: the California gull has a red spot on its lower bill (it may have a dark spot on the tip of its upper bill) while the Ring-billed has a black ring around the tip of both bills. As difficult as it is to identify the adults of these two gulls, they are easy compared to immature birds since it takes two to four years for gulls to get their adult plumages and even the experts are befuddled in identifying young gulls in their look-alike brown speckled plumages.

Contrary to the “seagull” misnomer, Ring-billed gulls are mainly interior gulls. Most nest and live their lives near freshwater lakes and many individuals never see or experience salt water over their entire decade-plus long lives.

Interestingly, the Atlas of the Breeding Birds of Nevada (2007) rather unflatteringly describes this gull as

This bold visitor to fast food restaurant parking lots is a familiar sight in Nevada. The bulk of Nevada’s summer Ring-billed Gulls are non-breeding visitors that have forsaken the frenetic pace of the crowded breeding colonies farther north for the easy living at strip malls and roadside rest stops. The Ring-billed Gull is a good example of a species with a summer distribution that is considerably broader than its breeding distribution.

In researching gulls for this article, a common theme is that many gull species are actively expanding their ranges. The Franklin’s Gull is a prime example. The original breeding locale for this black-hooded gull was in the American northwest prairies of Colorado, Montana, Idaho, and Washington. The first instance of breeding in Nevada was in 1916 and this has been rare at best ever since.

In southern Nevada, Franklin’s Gull is only known as an infrequent non-breeding visitor. It’s an unusual nester in that it builds nests of floating vegetation on water whereas most gulls nest on dry ground. It should be said that while it is by far the most likely “hooded gull” to be seen, Laughing and Bonaparte gulls are two other “black-hooded gulls” with rare sightings in Nevada. So, field guides need to be consulted to be sure of which species one is looking at.

By the way, “gull” is probably derived from a Celtic name alluding to the gulls wailing calls. And the scientific family name, Laridae, translates from the Latin “Larus” as a “ravenous seabird”. All are quite appropriate!

More on gulls to be continued next week.

Bruce Lund is a retired biologist and has a lifelong love of nature instilled by his grandparents and some remarkable teachers. He has lived with his wife, Flo, in Moapa since 1997.