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Migration and Dispersal of Laughing Gulls in the United States

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Migration and Dispersal of Laughing Gulls in the United States University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln USDA National Wildlife Research Center - Staff U.S. Department of Agriculture: Animal and Publications Plant Health Inspection Service September 1993 MIGRATION AND DISPERSAL OF LAUGHING GULLS IN THE UNITED STATES Jerrold L. Belant U.S. Department of Agriculture, Denver Wildlife Research Center Richard A. Dolbeer U.S. Department of Agriculture, Denver Wildlife Research Center Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/icwdm_usdanwrc Part of the Environmental Sciences Commons Belant, Jerrold L. and Dolbeer, Richard A., "MIGRATION AND DISPERSAL OF LAUGHING GULLS IN THE UNITED STATES" (1993). USDA National Wildlife Research Center - Staff Publications. 151. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/icwdm_usdanwrc/151 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the U.S. Department of Agriculture: Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in USDA National Wildlife Research Center - Staff Publications by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. J. Field Ornithol., 64(4):557-565 MIGRATION AND DISPERSAL OF LAUGHING GULLS IN THE UNITED STATES •JI•RROLDL. BIlLANT• AND RICHARDA. DOLBI•I•R U.S. Departmentof Agriculture Denver Wildlife ResearchCenter 6100 Columbus Avenue Sandusky,Ohio dd870 USA Abstract.--The 3662 recoveryrecords for Laughing Gulls (Larusatriczlla) banded in North America from 1924 to 1991 were analyzedto determinemigration and dispersalpatterns for Northeast (Maine to Virginia) and Gulf Coast (west coastof Florida to Texas) popu- lations.Autumn migration for Northeast Laughing Gulls was initiated in October.Northeast Laughing Gulls migratedgreater distancesand were recoveredfarther southduring winter than Gulf Coastgulls. Significantlymore Gulf Coast Laughing Gulls wintered along the Gulf Coast than did Northeast Laughing Gulls. In contrast,significantly more Northeast Laughing Gulls wintered in Central and South America. Adult Laughing Gulls returned to breedingareas betweenMarch and May. Sixty-four percentof adult recoveriesduring subsequentbreeding seasons were within 50 km of their natal bandinglocations. Significantly moreLaughing Gulls were recoverednorth of their natal bandinglocation than southduring subsequentbreeding seasons. Autumn dispersalof hatching-yearLaughing Gulls was char- acterizedby northward movementsbefore migration. There was little interchangebetween Northeast and Gulf Coast populations. MIGRACI(•N Y PATRONES DE DISPERSI(•N DE INDIVIDUOS DE LARUS ATRICILLA EN LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS Sinopsis.--E1 recobrode 3662 de individuosde Larus atrzczllaanillados en Norte Am6rica entre 1924 y 1991 rue analizadopara determinarla migraciony patronesde dispersi6nde las poblacionesdel noreste(Maine a Virginia) y la costadel golfo (costaoeste de Florida basra Texas). La migraci6n oto•al de la poblaci0ndel norestese inici6 en octubre. Los individuosde esta poblaci6nmigraron distanciasmils largas y se recobraronmils al sur duranteel inviernoque las avesde la costadel golfo. E1 nfimerode gayiotasdel golfoque pasaronel inviernoen las costasdel mismorue significativamentemayor que el nfimerode avesdel noreste.En contraste,un nfimero significativamentemayor de gayiotasdel noreste pasaronel invierno en Centro y Sur Am6rica. Las gayiotasadultas regresaron alas fireas de reproducci6nentre marzo y mayo. E1 64% de los adultos recobradosdurante 6pocas reproductivassubsiguientes fueron encontradosdentro de un radio de unos 50 km de su lugar natal. E1 nfimero de gayiotasrecuperadas en 6pocasreproductivas subsiguientes, al norte de su lugar de nacimiento rue significativamentemayor que gayiotasque fueron recuperadasal sur. La dispersi6notofial de individuosde primer a•o, se caracteriz6por movimientoshacia el norte previoa la migraci6n.Se encontr6poco intercambio entre las poblacionesdel norestey el golfo. Numerous studies of band recoveries in North America have been conductedto documentmigration and dispersalof Herring Gulls (Larus argez•tatus;e.g., Dexter 1978, Ludwig 1963, Threlfall 1978, Weseloh 1984) and Ring-billed Gulls (L. clelazvarez•sis;e.g., Forsythe1972a; Lud- wig 1943; Southern 1967, 1974). There is lessdetailed information avail- able, however, regarding migration and dispersalpatterns of Laughing • Current address:Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission,1908• West Superior Street, Duluth, Minnesota 55806 USA. 557 558] J. L. Belantand R. A. Dolbeer J.Field Ornithol. Autumn 1993 Gulls (L. atricilla). Teller and Shisler(1981) reporteda recordmovement (about8000 km) of a hatching-yearLaughing Gull from New Jerseyto Hawaii. Forsythe(1972b) provideda descriptionof LaughingGull move- ments;however, his analysiswas limited to gulls bandedor recoveredin South Carolina through 1970. Southern(1980) providedmore detailed analysesof the continentalLaughing Gull populationrecovered through the late 1970s (1521 records), but excluded recoveriessouth of 19øN and did not considerage classes.Although general breeding and wintering distributionsof Laughing Gulls are known (e.g., Bent 1921, Grant 1986, Southern 1980), specificwintering areas and migration and dispersal patternsof variouspopulations are unknown. Laughing Gull populationsin the northeasternUnited States have been increasingsince the late 1970s (Belant and Dolbeer 1993), possibly a consequenceof increaseduse of landfills as a sourceof food (Patton 1988, Patton and Hanners 1984). These increasing populations have causeda concurrentincrease in gull/people conflicts,including a hazard to aircraft (Dolbeer et al. 1993, Seubert1990). An improvedunderstand- ing of the population dynamics of migratory speciesat a regional or national level is essentialfor the developmentof managementprograms. Our objectivewas to determinemigration and dispersalpatterns of pop- ulations of Laughing Gulls in the United States. METHODS Bandrecovery records for LaughingGulls through1992 were obtained from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service,Office of Migratory Bird Man- agement,Laurel, Maryland. Methodsprimarily followedthose of Dolbeer (1991 ) and Moore and Dolbeer (1989). Recoverieswith "How Obtained" codes50, 56, 96, or 98 (Canadian Wildlife Service1984), which imply the month or locationof recoverymay not have been accuratelyknown, were excluded.Also, Laughing Gulls collectedas scientificspecimens (How Obtained code16) were excludedas they representednon-random recoveries.Finally, we usedonly birds that were bandedas hatching-year birds (age codes2 and 4, Canadian Wildlife Service1984) in June or July to ensurethat the natal locationwas known for each bird. From a preliminary analysisof recoverydata, we dividedthe population into two regions,birds banded in the Northeast(coastal states from Maine to Virginia) and birds banded in the Gulf Coast (coastalstates from the west coastof Florida to Texas). These two geographicregions contained 96% of the bandedbirds that were subsequentlyrecovered. The timing and distanceof Laughing Gull migrationfor eachof these regions was determinedby calculating the mean and median distance from bandingto recoverylocations for gullsbanded as chicksduring ,June or July (breedingseason) and recoveredat subsequentmonthly intervals. The distributionof recoveriesduring January and February (winter) and during the breedingseason from the two bandingregions was compared. We alsodetermined the amountof interchangebetween the regionaladult (->2 yr old) populations. We usedthe General Linear Models procedure(SAS Inst., Inc. 1988) Vol.64, No. 4 LaughingGull Migration and Dispersal [559 to comparemean distancesamong age classesand regionsafter transfor- mation of the data (log[x + 1], where x = distancefrom banding to recoverysite) to normalize the distributionof recoverydistances (Steel and Tottie 1960). If significantdifferences (P < 0.05) occurred,Tukey multiple comparisontests were usedto determine which valuesdiffered. Chi-squared tests of independencewere used to compare direction of Laughing Gull dispersaland chi-squaredstatistics for proportionaldata (Fleiss 1973) were usedto analyze locationsof winter recoveriesby age classand bandingregion. For all analyses,we assumedthat the probability of an individual recoverywas constantamong locations and years. RESULTS Samplesizes and characteristicsof data.--Of the 3662 recoveryrecords availablethrough 1992, 90% (3294) representedLaughing Gulls banded during June or July as chicksor recentlyfledged birds (age codes2 and 4, Canadian Wildlife Service1984). An additional2% (81) of the recovery recordsrepresented Laughing Gulls bandedduring othermonths as chicks or recentlyfledged birds, 1% (53) were bandedas adults(age codes1, 5- 8), and age was not determinedfor 6% (234, age codes0 and 3) of the birds recovered. Approximately34% (1236) of the LaughingGulls recoveredwere found dead, 11% (415) were captured in fishing equipment or nets, and 10% (360) were captured by hand. About 16% (598) of the recordswere excluded from analysesbecause the "How Obtained" codesindicated inadequate information regarding the date or location of recoveryor becauseLaughing Gulls were collectedas scientificspecimens. An ad- ditional8% (300) of the LaughingGulls recoveredwere because of injury, 6% (236) were shot,and 5% (167) were sight records.About 1% (27) of Laughing Gulls were recoveredafter colliding with aircraft. Migration Recoverydistance from hatchingsite by monthlyinterval.--For Northeast Laughing Gulls,
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