DISTRIBUTION

First nesting of the Little Gull in Manitoba

A new breedingrecord from the Hudson Bay lowlands

R. D. McRae

HEFIRST NORTH American nesting of (McRae and Richards, in prep.). bill; however,the stalkwas dropped after the Little Gull (Larus minutus) oc- The nest was located within a loose a few minutes and no further behavior of curred at Oshawa, Ontario, in 1962 colonyof Arctic Terns (Sternaparadis- this sort was noted. The next day the (Scott 1963) and since then it has been aea). The marshhabitat and other species birdswere seen copulating on the island, foundbreeding in Michigan,Wisconsin, foundthere have been described by Char- andwithin a few hoursthey began bring- and Quebec (Tessen 1976, Chipman tier and Cooke (1980). ing sedgestalks to the site. The bulk of 1972, Gossdin and David 1982). During The pair arrived at the marshon June nestmaterial had beencollected by June the summer of 1981 I recorded observa- 14, spendingmost of their time feeding 22, althoughsome was addedup to June tionson a nestof thisspecies in theAkud- alongthe edgeof the ice in the half-fro- 26. One bird constantlysat on the nest lik marsh, 5km east of Churchill, Mani- zen marsh. Within a few days, one bird from June22 on, indicatinga probable toba. This representsthe first known couldoften be seenstanding on a small first egg date. breedingof the Little Gull in Manitoba (ca..4m in diam.) mud island--the fu- During incubation,the nestwas rarely and the Hudson Bay-JamesBay low- turenest site. The first strongevidence of left unattendedand then only for very lands,a regionsuspected of housingmost breedingcame on June 19, when a bird briefperiods. Usually one bird incubated of North America'sbreeding Little Gulls circledthe islandwith a sedgestalk in its while the other either rested nearby or was away from the marsh.Both birds, if present,took part in defendingthe nest againstpotential predators, the most fre- quent of which were ParasiticJaegers (Stercorariusparasiticus),Herring Gulls (Larus argentatus), Common Ravens (Corvus corax), and Red Foxes (Vulpes Questers for 1985 vulpes). Travelwith a purpose. Learn and discover.Search outplants and animals,birds and flowers.Explore rain As there were severalpairs of Ross' forests,mountains and tundra,seashores, lakes and swamps. Gulls(Rhodostethia rosea) nesting in the WithQuesters you willhave ample time to photograph,absorb and reflect. marsh,nest checks were kept to a mini- Naturalistguides, small tourparties, first-classaccommodations. mum since visits into the area tended to Worldwide Nature Tours Asia & Africa disturball speciespresent. The first nest 1985 Departures Japan:23 days,5/31 ßBurma/Thailand. 23 days, check was conductedon July 4, when 11/2 ß Sri Lanka- 18 days, 2/15, 7/5, 11/15 - The Americas threeeggs were found (Fig. ! ). Although Nepal/Sikkim/Bhutan: 23 days, 3/14, 10/10 accurate measurementswere not taken, Okefenokee:12 days,4/14 ßHawaii- 15 days,2/7 øFoothillsof WesternHimalayas. 19 days,4/18 ß & 21, 3/21, 10/17, 12/19 ßAlaska: 17 days,6/21, Kenya: 22 days, 1/31, 7/18, 10/17 - Mada- the nest appearedto be about 25 cm in 7/9 & 27 - PacificNorthwest: 12 days, 6/17, 8/5 ß gascar/Reunion/Maurit•us:24 days, 7/7, 10/6 outsidediameter with a cup diameterof Death Valley: 9 days, 3/24, 10/6 ß Churchill 12 Oceania & Australasia about 12 cm. It was a bulky structure, days,6/17 ß Newfoundland:16 days,6/16 ßBaja California.11 days, 4/12, 10/11 ß SouthernMex- Australia/NewZealand: 28 days,2/9, 10/5 - New made of sedge(Carex aquatilis) stalks ico-15 days, 2/3&17, 11/3, 12/22 ß Panama/ Zealand/MilfordTrack: 22 days,2/8, 11/15 ß Pa- built on a moist mud island. Water sur- CostaRica: 14 days, 2/11,3/18, 12/23 ß Venezu- pua New Guinea: 24 days. 5/18. 8/10. 11/2 ß roundedthe nest, and the bottom of the Australia:35 days, 9/6. ela: 16 days, 2/1, 3/8, 11/1 -Amazon 17 days. nest cup was damp. 1/6, 3/3, 5/5, 7/7, 8/4, 11/17- Ecuador/Galapa- Writefor the 1985 QuestersDirectory of World- The incubationperiod is reportedto be gos: 17 days, 1/6, 3/10, 4/21,8/4, 10/13, 12/15 o wideNature Tours. If a particulartour strikes your Galapagos:17 days, 1/21, 2/4 - Peru-17 days. fancy,ask for its DetatledItinerary. between20 and21 days(Harrison 1978), 7/14, 11/3 ß Patagonia:22 days, 1/7, 11/4 ßTrini- so I plannedthe next check for July 14, dad/Tobago:11 days, 3/4 & 18, 11/4 & 18. when the chicks would be two or three Europe daysold. This checkrevealed three eggs Iceland:16 days,6/14, 7/5, 8/9 oIreland: 23 days, with no evidenceof pipping. On the 5/8 ß Islands/Highlandsof Scotland:21 days, QUESTERS morningof July 16, frequenttrips to the 5/30. 7/18 ß Switzerland:17 days, 7/19, 8/9 ß Worldwide Nature Tours nestby both adultsindicated that hatch- Spain: 20 days, 4/19 ß Greece: 19 days, 4/15, Dept. AB, 257 Park Avenue South 9/16 ß Islesof Greece: 16 days, 5/4, 10/12. New York, NY 10010 ß (212) 673-3120 ing hadoccurred. Assuming that the first

368 AmericanBirds, May-June 1984 extendedto SylvestMuldal and Richard Knaptonfor their improvingcomments on an earlier draft.

LITERATURE CITED

CHARTIER. BONNIE AND FRED COOKE. 1980. Ross' Gulls Rhodosthethia rosea nestingat Churchill, Manitoba, Canada. Am. Birds 34: 839-841. CHIPMAN, IRMA W. 1972. Western Great Lakes Region. Am. Birds 26: 861-864. GOSSELIN, MICHEL AND NORMAN DA- VID. 1982. Quebec Region. Am. Birds 36: 956-958. HARRISON, COLIN. 1978. A field guideto the nests, eggs and nestlingsof North Americanbirds. Collins, Glasgow. SCOTT, GEORGE A. 1963. First nestingof the Little Gull Larus minutus in Ontario and the New World. Auk 80: 548-549. TESSEN, DARYL D. 1976. Western Great LakesRegion. Am. Birds 30: 957-961. TOZER, RONALD G. AND JAMES M. RICHARDS. 1974. Birds of the Oshawa- Lake Scugogregion, Ontario. Oshawa. Ontario. Publishedby the authors.

623 Homewood Avenue, Figure 1. Nestand eggsof theLittle Gull, Churchill,Manitoba, JuA' 14, 1981. Photo/R.D. Peterborough, Ontario McRae. K9J 4V4 Canada

egg was laid on June22, the incubation periodfor this nest was about 25 days. Bird Bonanzas Presents The final nest check was conducted on July 22. The nest was empty but both "THE AFFORDABLE TOURS" parentsdive-bombed constantly, sug- gestingthat the young were nearby, prob- BIRD BONANZAS invitesyour attentionto our 1985 tour program.In these timeswhen so manytour pricesare out of reachfor the averageperson, we're ably hiding in the extensive areas of pleasedto offer bird toursat a bargain.For example: sedge. From this time until I left Churchill on URUGUAY in Februar9-- a 14 day tour for ... August4, the adultswere seenfeeding only$995. youngin two locationsapproximately 20 HAWAII in April-- a 14 daytour for .[, metersapart. The youngat thistime were only$1395. • KENYAin June-- an 18 daytour for • about20 daysold but sincethe area was only$1795. - notchecked after my departure,I do not SCANDINAVIAin July-- a 23 daytour know whetherthe young reachedinde- foronly $1695. pendence. MEXICO (Oaxaca)in August-- a 12 day tour Duringthe summersof 1982 and 1983, foronly $1150. Little Gulls returnedto Akudlik, but de- AUSTRALIA in October-- a 30 day tour spiteterritorial behavior and copulations, they did not nestthere. This may be a forWe onlyalso $2345.have tours in 1985 to Panama (January), resultof waterlevels being higher than in 1981,as it hasbeen noted that changes in CostaMarch),Rica Seabird(including Cruises a cruise to theto SouthCocos Paci-Island, water level have been the most detrimen- fic with Peter Harrison (March), Mexico (El -- Triunfo, April), Guatemala (Tikal, May), tal factorin Little Gull nestingsuccess Yemen (April), the Philippines (April) and aroundthe Great Lakes (Tozer and Rich- New Zealand (November). ards 1974). These observations were made while We employthe finestavailable leaders, we keep our groupssmall, and we offer unsurpassedbirding experiences at a relaxing,enjoyable pace. working for Dr. F. Cooke of Queen's Universityon a grant from the World Foradditional dc•ails about bargains you can'tafford to overlook,please write to: Wildlife Fund Canada to observe, and P.O. Box 611563 protect from human disturbance, the Bird Inc Noah F,a.33161 nestingRoss' Gulls. Sincerethanks are

Volume 38, Number 3 369