3 Articles European Herring Gull in Ontario Michel Gosselin and Ron Pittaway Introduction the middle) compared with two An unidentified first year gull in American Herring Gulls (L. a. juvenal/first basic plumage was col­ smithsonianus). lected by the National Museum of Natural Sciences (now Canadian Discussion Museum of Nature) in Ottawa, Comparing same age and plumage, Ontario, on 11 November 1974. the European Herring Gull from When Pierre Devillers, of the Ottawa is distinguished from Institut Royal des Sciences American Herring Gulls by the Naturelles (Brussels), visited Ottawa combination of whiter and less ver­ in 1986, he identified the bird as a miculated bases to its tail feathers Herring Gull of the European sub­ (creating a more defined subtermi­ species group Larus argentatus nal tail band), whiter upper tail argentatus/argenteus (Pierre Devillers, coverts and rump, coarser and pers. comm.). He thought it was sparser dark markings on the more similar to nominate argentatus, undertail coverts, paler and more but he could not eliminate argenteus checkered upperparts (including without access to comparative skins. wing coverts and tertials), and a His assessment, however, is consis­ more streaked breast (Grant 1986, tent with the information in Golley Dubois 1997). It differs from the and Elliott (1993). This specimen is Pontic/Yellow-legged Gull complex the first record of a European (L. cachinnans/michahellis/atlantis), Herring Gull in Ontario and the first and from the Lesser Black-backed specimen for Canada. It is specimen Gull (L. fuscus) , by its heavily number CMN 62001 in the marked greater secondary coverts, Canadian Museum of Nature in more notched tertial edges, and Ottawa. It was determined to be a paler inner primaries (Grant 1986, female through dissection by Garner and Quinn 1997). It is dis­ Richard Poulin of the Museum. tinguished from the Vega Herring Measurements of the specimen are: Gull (L. a. vegae) of Siberia and wing chord 419 mm, exposed culmen western Alaska mainly by its 49 mm, tarsus 61.5 mm. Figures 1 lighter underparts in direct speci­ and 2 show dorsal and ventral views men comparison (Pierre Yesou, of the European Herring Gull (in pers. comm.). VOLUME 20 NUMBER 1 4 Figure 1. Dorsal view: (left) large female Larus argentatus smithsonianus from Ottawa,6 November 1974, CMN 61999; (middle) female L. a. argenta­ tuslargenteus from Ottawa, 11 November 1974, CMN 62001; (right) small female L. a. smithsonianus from Ottawa in mid-October 1982, CMN 84198. Photo by Michel Gosselin. Q TARIQ BIRDS APRIL 2002 5 Figure 2. Ventral view: (left) large female Larus argentatus smithsonianus from Ottawa,6 November 1974, CMN 61999; (middle) female L. a. argenta­ tuslargenteus from Ottawa, 11 November 1974, CMN 62001; (right) small female L. a. smithsonianus from Ottawa in mid-October 1982, CMN 84198. Photo by Michel Gosselin. VOLUME 20 UMBER 1 6 Conclusion Acknowledgements European Herring Gulls of the We are grateful to Pierre Devillers nominate subspecies argentatus for identifying the European breed in Denmark and Scandinavia Herring Gull specimen from east to Kola peninsula, and the sub­ Ontario. We thank Jean Iron, Bruce species argenteus breeds in Iceland, Mactavish, Ian McLaren, Richard the British Isles, and the North Sea Poulin, Ron Tozer and Pierre Yesou coast from France to West Germany for helpful comments. (Cramp 1983). In all likelihood, birds nesting in Greenland also belong to Literature Cited one of these two subspecies Boertmann, D. 1994. An annotated checklist (Boertmann 1994). European to the birds of Greenland. Meddelelser om Gr(Z)nland 38. Herring Gulls have been reported Cramp, S. (editor). 1983. The Birds of the several times and photographed in Western Palearctic. Volume 3: Waders to Newfoundland (Mactavish 1995, Gulls. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2000), and once in Nova Scotia (Ian United Kingdom. Dubois, P.l. 1997. Identification of North McLaren, pers. comm.). A few may American Herring Gull. British Birds 90: occur regularly in Ontario. Over the 314-324. last 10 years, occasional individuals Garner, M. and D. Quinn. 1997. showing the characters (slightly Identification of Yellow-legged Gulls in Britain. British Birds 90: 25-62, 369-383. darker mantle and reduced black in Golley, M. and M. Elliott. 1993. wingtips) of adult northern Identification of argentatus Herring Gull. European Herring Gulls of nomi­ Birding World 6: 32-38. nate argentatus have been seen on Grant, P.l. 1986. Gulls: A Guide to Identification. Second Edition. Buteo the Niagara River of Ontario and Books, Vermillion, South Dakota. New York State (Ron Pittaway, pers. Mactavish, B. 1995. European Herring Gull obs.). Here we report the first record Larus argentatus argenteus in Newfound­ of a European Herring Gull for land. Birders Joumal4: 198-201. Mactavish, B. 2000. Identification of a Ontario and the first specimen for European relative. Birders Journal 9: Canada. 80-83. Michel Gosselin, Canadian Museum of Nature, Box 3443, Station "D", Ottawa, Ontario KIP 6P4 Ron Pittaway, Box 619, Minden, Ontario KOM 2KO ONTARIO BIRDS APRIL 2002.