Bellingham Bay, WA
Eastern Edge of the Salish Sea
Living on the edge of a salt water bay, we have plenty of gulls as well as other water loving critters. For the most part, I love the gulls which are part of the salt water ambience, except when they bombard my car. Nonetheless, our bay hosts several gull species and their relatives, all of the Laridae Family that frequent and feed from our shores. Although there are some 50 species of gulls spread over all continents except Antarctica, we have just a few species locally. More inhabit the San Juan Islands and Salish Sea to our west as some like more open water. I will focus here on three that are somewhat dramatic and make their presence known: the Glaucus-Winged Gull, the Bonaparte’s Gull, and one of their cousins that is a particular favorite of mine, the Caspian Tern.
You’ll see some very different backgrounds on some of these photos as they were taken from opposite sides of the Bay, one east and one west. The Google Earth map shows the Bay and the two red Xes show where I took the photos. From the west, the view looks across to Bellingham and to the Cascade Mountains and Mt. Baker. From the east side of the bay I was on a trestle walk over the bay that faces west toward the Salish Sea.
Glaucus-winged Gull (GWG, Larus glaucescens)
Our most prevalent gull by far is the Glaucus-winged Gull. They are one of the larger gulls and around here constitute about 90% of our year around gull population. I posted a bucket on a nesting pair on neighbor’s roof a couple of years ago. They are great gulls but also pests.
There are relatively few pure-bred GWGs these days especially in the Salish Sea area as they often interbreed with a close relative, the Western Gull.
GWGs are identified by their rather large stature, large yellow bill with a red spot on the mandible. Their back is slate gray with some dark wing tips and pink legs. The hybrids’ back and wing coloration are typically a blend of the darker Western and the lighter GWG and are often difficult to differentiate.
These gulls are omnivorous and major scavengers, dining on first-class sea food, (oysters, clams & mussels) and detritus from land fills, garbage cans and everything in between. One of their favorite feeding routines is to hang out and cruise along a beach and when they see a tasty clam or oyster, they flutter down and snatch it.
Then it is off somewhere enjoy their seafood dinner.
Since food this time of year is plentiful with low tides and decent weather, the gulls have time to cavort and do aerobatics. Here is a little sequence I saw the other day in which two gulls paired up and took a precision flight holding their formation for a full loop around the sailboat, simply to entertain the onlookers. Had I been thinking quicker, I would have videoed this as it was rather cool precision flying.
Bonaparte’s Gull(Chroicocephalus/Larus philadelphia)
The common name for these delightful little gulls comes from a Bonaparte but not Napoleon. This Bonaparte is Charles Lucien, a French nephew of the exiled Emperor and a prominent ornithologist who lived and worked in Philadelphia for a few years during the 1820s. Hence the species name, philadelphia). (You might note that the genus name has changed from Larus which had been standard for gulls until recently. All of my books use Larus but then they go back to 2003. The change happened sometime after that. This newer taxonomy recognizes the group of gulls by their colored heads (gr. Chroicocephalus)
Bonaparte’s are a favorite of mine and are relatively common here during breeding season (April - August). And that is when I like them best with their black hoods, black bills, gray wings with black trailing edges. They are a small gull with sturdy bodies and bright orange-red legs.
Bonaparte’s are fast and agile and remind me of little torpedoes the way they bomb around. When fishing they skim along the water and when they spot a fish they hit the water fast and are up and gone. They feed on insects during breeding season for the most part where they are found in the boreal forest of the north. This is the only gull species that nests in trees, although some have been seen nesting on the ground.
When in overlapping areas, Bonaparte’s often feed with terns which I observed here one evening. The Terns cruise higher above the water than the Bonaparte’s and then dive as I’ll show below.
Over all they seem to be of low conservation concern and might even be increasing in world population.
In non-breeding colors, they lose their black caps but retain a black spot on the side of their heads. They are still handsome birds.
Caspian Tern(Sterna caspia)
Although not a gull, Caspian terns are closely related, being in the same family of Laridae along with Skimmers and some other sea birds. The Caspian is the largest of the terns and readily IDed by their massive orange bill as well as their back cap which makes me think of them as bandits, which they are sometimes. They have long but narrow wings with black tips.
Like their cousins the Bonaparte’s, terns are agile, sleek and maneuverable in the air and as such remind me of fighter planes/pilots. When they dive bomb for a fish, they don ‘t mess around. Fishing for them is all in — bang!
When fishing, the Caspians fly considerably higher than the Bonaparte’s and they hold their head looking down to see the water which points their bill downward as seen above. When they spot a fish they slow down and hover for a few seconds. And then they dive. They hit the water straight on, bill first with the rest to follow. They go all the way under and then pop up and gone.
These two local Gulls and a tern make good use of our Bay and we are happy to have them use it as their cafeteria. Of course they were here long before us. I guess I should thank them for allowing us watch them and enjoy the bay. Watching them fish and cavort is a great pastime for us locals and we are eager to share the view with others who don’t get to see these particular birds.
Dessert:
To finish this sea food dinner I thought I would throw in a couple of ambiance photos that I took while photographing the birds. These were taken from the two red Xes on the Google Earth map.
