Gulls of Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East: an identification guide & Gulls of the Americas
Gulls of Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East: an identification guide by Peter Adriaens, Mars Muusse, Philippe J. Dubois, and Frédéric Jiguet. Princeton U. Pr. 2022. 320p. flexbound. $39.95. c. 1,400 photographs. 45 species. 5 hybrids.
Gulls of the Americas by Steve Howell and Jon Dunn. Houghton Mifflin, 2007. 516p. hardbound. $35.00. 1,160 photographs. 36 species. 14 hybrids.
Most Norteamericanos should make out just fine sticking with Howell. Both titles treat the problematic Thayer’s Gull as a full species, although, to the relief of many, American authorities now consider it a race of Iceland Gull.
Adriaens gives full treatment to 21 species that also occur in North American, including strays such as Common Gull, Kelp Gull, Slaty-backed Gull, and the so-called European Herring Gull.
To give some idea of the richness of these 2 fine monographs, here are the number of illustrations for selected species, the 1st number representing those in Adriaens, the 2nd in Howell: ring-billed gull (26; 25), Lesser Black-backed Gull (34; 37), and Glaucous Gull (22; 23). The illustrations are all annotated in both titles, which also go into detail concerning subspecies and hybrids. Both books give full photographic and written descriptions of all the phases, cycles, of the species they treat as well as range maps, maps lacking in Adriaens for the species that do not breed in the western palaearctic.
These 2 titles should be immensely satisfying for gull fanatics in their great level of detail. I am not much of a full fanatic, but over the years have had some stimulating gull experiences, nonetheless, as detailed below. Adriaens and Howell provide more than I want to know about these often difficult to ID taxa, The field is intensely scrutinized and no doubt will be subject to future changes, especially due to how close some species are to other related gulls, and the frequency of hybridization.
“Birds have wings and sometimes they use them.” Attributed to Frances Hamerstrom, her reaction to extralimital records. There is a record of a Kelp Gull in Morocco, mentioned in Adriaens. Also of interest is the recent Ivory Gull at an inland Georgia waterway, that died there.
SOME OF MY GULL EXPERIENCES: Sort of off topic: Many years as a birder not focused especially on gulls, but these show in part how ubiquitous and interesting they are:
As a pre-teen, swimming after fuzzy young “escaping” Herring Gulls at Sharp’s I., MD, and banding them with Dick Kleen’s bands, the 1st breeding record (his) in Maryland, one day in the mid-1950s. Recording with help from 3 others the nest contents of > 1,000 Herring Gull nests at Easter Point, Smith I., MD, one June morning.
A young kittiwake circling my skiff for half an hour; after a while my non-birding companion would say “Here comes the kittiwake again.” One hovering kestrel or kingfisher-like over Bodie Island Lighthouse Pond. Chasing successfully with 3 companions the Back River Sewage Treatment Plant Ross’s Gull near Baltimore. A Great Black-backed Gull flying with an intact Horned Grebe corpse in its bill near Thoms Creek, VA. Another one drowning and then eating a Red-breasted Merganser at Pea I. N.W.R.
Seeing the Ross’s Gull near its nest at Churchill, one of the inspirations for George’s interest in birding. Learning of extralimital breeding of Herring Gulls at Key West and the Texas coast. A Glaucous Gull on coastal Texas near High Island. Us finding a Lesser Black-backed Gull near Puerto Penasco (Rocky Point), Baja California. An Asian species, Black-tailed Gull on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel.
On a pelagic trip off of Avalon, NJ, it was disconcerting to see Laughing Gulls hitting on Ruby-crowned Kinglets that had been blown offshore. A couple of times when we’d flushed Short-eared Owls on the Virginia barrier islands and in a strong NW winds they also got blown offshore Herring Gulls would attack and sometimes kill them.
Somewhat relatedly once in August when Gull-billed Terns - larids at least - were hunting over the soy bean fields a Grasshopper Sparrow, which nest in the fields when the beans are low, rose up and attacked one of the terns.
Unrelatedly but at least with some larid overtones, there is the Gull-winged Mercedes-Benz 300SL coupe, the best-looking sports car ever designed. If my family had much much deeper pockets than they do, one would be fine for Father’s Day. In German racing gray, please.
Henry T. Armistead