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Photo Courtesy of U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Glaucous Gull
Larus hyperboreus
NatureServe conservation status
Global (G-rank): G5
State (S-rank): S1S2N
External links
General information
The glaucous gull, Larus hyperboreus, occurs in North America and Eurasia. In North America, it breeds on Arctic coasts and islands in the extreme north, and winters along the west coast, from the Bering Sea to California; along the east coast, from Hudson Bay to North Carolina; and in the Great Lakes region. It is a rare winter visitor to Utah, southern California, and parts of the central United States.
Glaucous gulls eat a large variety of food items; their diets include fishes, invertebrates, eggs, young birds, and small mammals. They will often chase and harass another bird until the bird drops or throws up its food, at which time the glaucous gull steals the item. Glaucous gulls nest in colonies along the edges of tundra lakes, often with other species. Individuals participate in complex courtship displays, after which a pair mates. The male and female build a saucer-shaped nest out of soft grass, and then line it with soft materials, such as feathers, often adding to nests built in previous years. Three eggs are incubated, and both parents share nest sitting duties for the month-long incubation period. Parents are very protective of the eggs and will defend the nest vigorously. The young leave the nest shortly after hatching, but parental care, by both the male and female, continues for another two months. The young are able to fly at about seven weeks of age, and will attain their adult plumage after four years.
Species range
BREEDS: arctic coasts, islands from northern Alaska east across northern Canada, Greenland, Iceland, northern Europe to eastern Siberia. WINTERS: from southern part of breeding range south to southern California and Virginia; occasional in Hawaii; in Old World, south to northern Europe and central Siberia.
Migration
Summer and winter ranges overlap somewhat in some areas; migratory status in those areas? Arrives in breeding areas in Beaufort Sea area in May, most depart by mid-September, though some, especially juveniles, may remain into November (Johnson and Herter 1989).
Habitat
Primarily in coastal waters, less commonly along large inland bodies of water; sea coasts, bays, estuaries, dumps. Nests on cliffs, rocky coasts, islets in and borders of tundra lakes, coastal dunes. Also low islands and sandbars usually on or near coast; inland river bars; most common on barrier islands immediately offshore from rivers that flood in spring and thereby isolate the island from foxes (Johnson and Herter 1989).
Food habits
In Arctic an important predator of lemmings; also predator of young alcids, ducks, and gulls. Feeds on fishes, mollusks, crustaceans and seabird eggs. Preys heavily on eggs and chicks, especially those of waterfowl, in breeding season (Johnson and Herter 1989). Large numbers may stop to feed along barrier islands, at whale carcasses, and at dumps during fall movements (Johnson and Herter 1989).
Reproductive characteristics
Breeding begins late May to early June (Harrison 1978); egg laying occurs mainly mid- to late June in Beaufort Sea area (Johnson and Herter 1989). Both sexes incubate 2-3 eggs for 27-28 days (Terres 1980). Hatching begins in second week of July in Beaufort Sea area. Semi-precocial young are tended by both parents, fledge at 45-50 days, may be accompanied by adults into mid-September. Often nests in colonies, but may nest singly.
References
- Ehrlich, P. R., D. S. Dobkin, and D. Wheye. 1988. The birder’s handbook[:] a field guide to the natural history of North American birds. Simon & Schuster, New York. xxx + 785 pp.
- National Geographic Society. 1996. Field guide to the birds of North America, 2nd edition. The National Geographic Society, Washington, D. C.
- Peterson, R. T. 1966. A field guide to western birds, second edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, MA.
