The Gray-Hooded Gull in North America: First Documented Record
The Gray-hooded Gull in North America:
First DOcumented Rec.d
Figure1. AdultGray-hooded Gull in alternateplumage at Apalachicola,Franklin County, Florida, Z6 December1998, resting on roof of boat. Notethe uprightposture, moderately long carminebill and carminetarsi, carmineorbital, pale iris, well- definedpale gray hood with darkerposterior margin, and palegray mantle, scapulars, and secondaries.Photograph/T. L. Lewis
DOUGLAS B. HCNAIR * DESCRIPTION AND IDENTIFICATION The Gray-hoodedGull hadan uprightposture, was smaller and slim- merthan a Ring-billedGull, similar in sizeto a LaughingGull. Its bill nGray-hooded26 December (Gray-headed) 1998,I discovered Gull an Larusalternate-plumaged cirrocephalus onadult the wasmoderately long and thick,carmine with no blacktip (Fig. 1); waterfrontalong Scipio Creek at the boat landingbeside the head- the gonydealangle was not pronounced.The tarsusand feet were quartersfor St. VincentNational Wildlife Refugeat Apalachicola, alsocarmine, the nailsblack; the tarsiwere fairly long. The orbital FranklinCounty, Florida. I watchedthe bird from 1030-1215hr; T. ring wascarmine, the iris paleyellowish-white, the pupil dark.The L. Lewisjoined me towardthe endof thisperiod. The Gray-hooded Gull associatedwith other gulls,mainly LaughingL. atricillaand well-definedpale gray hood, which extended only to the hind crown Ring-billedL. delawarensis,at discarded calico scallop shell mounds, behindthe ear,was darker at the posteriormargin (Fig. 1). It lacked resultingfrom a boom scallopharvest. The gull spentmost of its whiteeye crescents, but had a completediffuse whitish eyering con- timefeeding on theviscera of scallopsgit also joined other gulls rest- trastingwith the orbital.The slopedforehead had a smallwhitish ing on paved,gravel, or shellyroadsides along the waterfrontand patchabove the baseof the bill, with a smallerwhite patchon the aboveground on boats,buildings, and pilings.It permitteda close chin. The white hindneckseparated the hood from the mantle and approach,but wasnot tame.I baitedit with breadand attemptedto rump,which were gray, lighter than on a LaughingGull, but slightly captureit with a butterflynet but wasunsuccessful (although I cap- darkerthan on a Ring-billedGull. Most of the wing covertswere the turedand releasedother gulls that werepresent at the sametime by sameshade of grayas the mantle.The wingswere fairly broad and this method, includingan immature Franklin'sGull L. pipixcan long.The upperwingshad a prominentwhite leading edge, the white [TTRSP650-654], which is locallyrare). After the last attemptto beingmost extensive on the middleprimaries and primarycoverts. captureit, the Gray-hoodedGull departedand flew off aloneto the The wing tip wasmostly a largeblack triangle, which extendedup eastacross the ApalachicolaRiver and over the inaccessible marshes. boththe leading and trailing edge (Fig. 2). Blackfeathers on thetrail- NeitherT. L. Lewisnor I relocatedit. The previousday I locatedsix ing edgeof severalmiddle primaries had tiny paletips. A large,white, Franldin'sGulls at the samesite, including one salvagedspecimen andshort rectangular subterminal mirror waspresent on eachof the (McNair et al. 2000). two outermostprimaries. The mirror of the outermostprimary (p10), whichwas larger, extended across to the trailingedge of the feather,but the mirror on p9 did not extendto the trailingedge of * TallTimbers Research Station. 13093 Henry Beadel Drive, Tallahassee, the featheron the undersideof the wing (Fig.3). The undersideof Florida 32312-0918 thewings lacked a whiteleading edge. The underside of theprimaries
VOLUME53 (1999), ISSUE3 337 (Ridgely1976, Ridgely and Gwynne 1989). A purportedsub-adult discoverednear Folly Beach, Charleston County, South Carolina, 17 I February1987 was collected in mid-March and determined tobe a hybrid"hooded" x "white-headed" gull,probably Laughing x Her- ringL. argentatus (LeGrand 1987, W. Post in littO.Thus, this Gray- hoodedGull record from Florida is the first for theUnited States, the firstphotographically documented occurrence forNorth America, andwas unanimously (7-0) accepted bythe Florida Ornithological SocietyRecords Committee (FOSRC 99-396). Its occurrence paral- leledthe occurrenceof onein Spain,also an adultfrom coastal marshes(Ree 1973, Grant 1982), until a juvenilewas discovered at Gibraltar17August 1992 (Vavrik unpubl.). There are five additional occurrencesfrom the Mediterraneanregion, all in North Africa Figure2. AdultGray-hooded Gull in alternateplumage (Vavrikunpubl.). atApalachicola• Franklin County• Flodda, 26 December lgg8, inflight over Scipio Creek. Note the prominent white leading edge ORIGIN onthe upperwing andthe black wing tip with one large white subterminalmirror on eachof the two outermostprimaries. Thenatural occurrence of this gull is unknown,and making that Photograph/D.B. HcNair determinationforany bird is difficult. Choices range from natural unassistedvagrancy from either South America or Africa to assisted passageor escapefrom captivity. Its occurrenceat a remoteestuary wasdark (except for the two white mirrors), although paler than the in a smallharbor where it scavengedfor food--typicalbehavior in blackwing tips on the upperside; theunderside ofthe secondaries thispreferred habitat inits normal range (Tovar and Ashmole 1970, andall wing coverts were light gray, paler than the gray upperside of Crampand Simmons 1983, Cooper etal. 1984, Urban et al. 1986)- thewings (Fig. 3). The underparts, under- and uppertail coverts, and supportsnatural vagrancy, despite the absenceof occurrences tailwere white. The tip of the tail was worn considerably. Numerous between Panama and Florida.Its abradedtail tip mighthave been colorphotographs byT. L. Lewisand me verify these characters from captivity, but the otherwise fresh plumage, including the wing (TTRSP655-664). The bird called twice, giving a shortlow kwaah tips,suggests otherwise. Robertson andWoolfenden (1992) did not superficiallyresembling anabbreviated callof a hoarseAmerican list the Gray-hooded Gullas having occurred asan exotic in Florida, CrowCorvus brachyrhynchos. andthe December 1997 International Species Inventory List did not Thecombination of soft-part and plumage characters, especially list the species inany official registered facility in the New World, nor the carminebill andtarsi, pale iris, and diagnostic wing pattern, did SeaWorld of Orlandokeep any in captivity.Earlier lists (see eliminateall possible species of"hooded" gulls in theworld except Smithand Smith 1995), going back to 1994,also did not list the forthe Gray-hooded, including species such as the Silver Gull (= species,nordo U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service import files (usually Red-billedGull L. n. novaehollandiae[Grant 1982, Harrison 1983]). heldfor only five years; C. Skouderpers. comm.). Private unregis- The Floridabird wasan adultin alternate(breeding) plumage, in at teredcollections of exoticbirds could possibly hold Gray-hooded leastits third year (Grant 1982, Harrison 1983). Characters thatiden- Gulls,but I did not obtainsuch information from these sources. tifythe bird as a Gray-hooded Gullalso eliminated thepossibility of In Florida,because none of the Band-tailedGulls L. belcheri, anatural hybrid "hooded" x "white-headed" gull(e.g., Black-headed another vagrant from South America, showed signs of previous cap- L. ridibundusx Ring-billed Gull [Richards and Gill 1976, Weseloh tivity nor were any known to have been imported, Robertson and andMineau 1986, Nikula 1993]), an exotic hybrid (e.g., Silver Gull x Woolfenden(1992) believed these birds probably also represented "hooded"gull species [Richards and Gill 1976]), or anaberrantly- natural, perhaps ship-assisted, occurrences. plumaged"hooded" gull (e.g., Black-headed Gull[Jorgensen 1984], Despitemuch smaller populations onthe Pacific than the Atlantic LaughingGull [Grant 1982, Postmus and Postmus 1996]). coast(Murphy 1936, Harrison 1983, del Hoyo 1996), if theGray- Crampand Simmons (1983) and Harrison (1983), following hooded Gull was a naturalvagrant the most likely source of origin Dwight(1925), recognized twosubspecies ofthe Gray-hooded Gull, basedon proximity toFlorida is the Pacific coast of South America, L.c. cirrocephalus ofSouth America and L. c. poiocephalus ofAfrica. wherethe species breeds north to Ecuador (Ridgely and Wilcove 1979, L.c. cirrocephalus haslarger, longer mirrors, a paler gray saddie and Harrison1983, Duffy and Hurtado 1984, AOU 1998). This conclusion upperwings,anda largerbill and body size than does L. c.poio- issupported byrecords along the Pacific and Gulf coasts ofNorth cephalus.These differences areslight (Dwight 1925) and difficult or Americawithin the last 30 years of threeother species of southern impossibleto assess from photographs. P.Hockey, P.Ryan, and I. hemisphericgullsnormally restricted tothe Pacific coast of South Sindair(pets. comm.) informed me the bill of the Gray-hooded Gull America,the Gray L. modestus, Band-tailed (Belcher's), andSwallow- inFlorida appears tobe too short and compact, thelegs too long, and tailedCreagrusfurcatus gulls(Olson 1976, Stevenson etal. 1980, Muth thelegs and feet too brightly colored tofit anAfrican bird. It had 1988,Robertson and Woolfenden 1992, Stevenson and Anderson largemirrors, which also suggests thatit mayhave been of the nom- 1994,AOU 1998, Lethaby and Bangma 1998, M. M. Rogersin litt.). inaterace (Dwight 1925), but the bird could not be positively identi- TheKelp Gull L. dominicanus hasoccurred along the Gulf coast of fiedto subspecieswith confidence. NorthAmerica, but normallyoccurs in SouthAmerica where it rangesmuch further north along the Pacific than the Atlantic coast DISTRIBUTION AND STATUS (AOU1998, Dittmann and Cardiff 1998, D. L. Dittman in littO.The TheGray-hooded Gull has been listed in the Appendix ofthe AOU absenceof any documented occurrence ofgulls of African origin in Check-list(1998) on the basis of a sightreport of anadult in non- theNew World suggests that the Florida Gray-hooded Gull was not a breedingplumage onthe Pacific coast of Panama 25September 1955 trans-Atlanticvagrant, although prior transport bya tropical cyclone
NORTH AHERICAN BIRDS 338 isa remotepossibility from the Atlantic coast of WestAfrica (Murphy 1936),where it breedsnorth to Mauritania(Cramp and Simmons 1983,Cooper et al. 1984,Urban et al. 1986). Usefulinformation is limitedon thetiming of Gray-hoodedGull molt on the Pacific coast of South America or Atlantic coast of West Africa.Documented breeding populations are small (fewer than 1000pairs) from both regions,where the breedingseason in eachis from April to September(Hughes 1970, Tovar and Ashmole1970, Crampand Simmons1983, Cooper et al. 1984,Duffy et al. 1984, Duffy and Hurtado 1984,Urban et al. 1986).Thus, it would not be breedingin lateDecember in theseareas. Adults in breedingplumage in bothregions have only occurred as late as November and as early asMarch, but Murphy (1936) stated that adults in breedingplumage FigS*re3.Adult Gray-hooded Gull,n alternate plumage werecaptured along the coast of Peruin Decemberand January, cor- at Apalachicola,Franklin County, Florida, 26 December1998, taking respondingto the Floridabird. Larger,more southerly populations flight. Notethe absenceof a white leadingedge on the underside breedin December(e.g., southern Africa; Cooper et al. 1984),but the of the wing,dark underside of the primariesexcept for the two likelihoodof a bird in Florida/•rrivingfrom theseregions seems mirrors,and pale light gray underside of the secondariesand wing remote.Regardless of thetiming of molt,an adult Gray-hooded Gull coverts.See text for moredetails. Photograph/T. L. Lewis in breedingplumage in Floridain lateDecember suggests that it had not beenin the NorthernHemisphere for an extendedperiod of del Hoyo,J., A. E. Elliott,and J. Sargatal. 1996. Handbook of theBirds of the World,vol. 3. LynxEdicions, Barcelona. time;it probablyarrived not longbefore discovery. Hughes,R. A. 1970.Notes on the birdsof the Mollendodistrict, southwest Peru. Ibis 112:229-241. SUMMARY Jorgensen.J. 1984.Black-headed Gull with aberrantunderwing pattern. British Birds 77:358-359. The photographicrecord of a Gray-hoodedGull at Apalachicola, LeGrand,H. E., Jr. 1987.Southern Atlantic Coast Region. American Birds FranklinCounty, Florida, 26 December1998, is the firstoccurrence of 41:269-272. this speciesin North America.The bird was an adult in alternate Lethaby,N., andJ. Bangma. 1998. Band-tailed Gulls in NorthAmerica: Some (breeding)plumage. Its originis unknown. The preponderance of the noteson identification.Birding 31:56-64. evidencesupports the interpretationthat it wasmost likely a natural, McNair,D. B.,E E. Hayes,and G. White.2000. First reports of Franklin'sGull (Laruspipixcan)for Trinidad.In pressin Hayes,E E., andS. A. Temple, possiblyship-assisted, vagrant, that probably arrived from the Pacific eds.Studies in Trinidadand Tobago ornithology honouring Richard ffrench. coast of South America. OccasionalPapers of the Departmentof Life Sciences,University of the WestIndies, St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Murphy,R. C. 1936.Oceanic Birds of South America, vol. 2. AmericanMuseum of NaturalHistory, New York. I thankT. L.Lewis for contributingphotographs the gull, Vavrik for supplying Muth, D. P. 1988.Central Southern Region. American Birds 42:274-279. informationon theinternet
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