Black-backed Gull

Table

Lesser Black-backed Gull – Accepted
1. 14 Jan 1978	A4Y	Roberts Lake, Seaside MTY	1978-064	3	ph., Binford (1978), Roberson (1980, 2002)
2. 18 Dec 1984–05 Jan 1985	ATY	Red Hill, Salton Sea IMP	1984-278	10	ph., Dunn (1988)
3. 14 Sep–05 Oct 1986	T-4Y	Whitewater R., Salton Sea RIV	1986-379	12	ph.
4. 25 Oct 1986–01 Mar 1987	ATY	Salton Sea NWR IMP	1987-029	13
5. 13 Dec 1986–24 Feb 1987	ATY	Salton Sea NWR IMP	1987-028	13	ph., AB 41:329
6. 19 Jan 1987	A4Y	Malibu LA	1987-177	12	ph.
7. 27 Dec 1994–29 Jan 1995	ATY	Doheny State Beach ORA	1994-206	20	Fig. 232, ph., FN 49:198
and 18 Dec 1995–20 Mar 1996			1996-019	22
and 22 Feb–02 Mar 1996		Oceanside SD	1996-034	22	ph., FN 50:222, Unitt (2004)
and 08 Dec 1996–05 Jan 1997		Doheny State Beach ORA	1997-073	22	ph.
and 08 Oct 1997–04 Mar 1998			1997-156	24	ph.
and 04 Nov 1998–10 Mar 1999			1998-201	24	ph., video
and 09 Mar 2002			2002-098	28
8. 22 Oct 1995–23 Mar 1996	ATY	Alviso SCL/San Fran. Bay NWR ALA	1995-114	21	ph.
and 25 Dec 1996–22 Mar 1997		Alviso SCL	1997-002	23	ph.
and 11 Oct 1997–23 Jan 1998			1997-150	24
and 21 Oct–08 Dec 1998			1998-203	24	ph.
and 16 Oct 1999–03 Feb 2000			2000-140	25
and 08 Oct 2000			2000-125	26	see records not submitted
9. 22–27 Jan 1996	A4Y	Brawley IMP	1996-021	22
10. 31 Oct 1997–31 Mar 1998	SY	Lake Cunningham SCL	1997-178	24	Fig. 159, ph., video, FN 52:253
and 20 Dec 1998–14 Mar 1999			1999-001	24	ph.
and 01 Nov 1999–26 Mar 2000			1999-188	25	ph., Rogers & Jaramillo (2002)
and 29 Oct 2000–09 Mar 2001			2000-139	26	ph.
and 16 Dec 2001–22 Mar 2002			2002-023	27	ph.
11. 08 Jan 1998	A4Y	Lake Cunningham SCL	1998-003	24
12. 19 Jan 1998	A4Y	Obsidian Butte, Salton Sea IMP	1998-039	24
13. 21 Jan–07 Mar 1998	A4Y	Salton Sea State Rec. Area RIV	1998-025	24	ph.
and 25 Jan–17 Mar 2000			2000-050	26
and 26 Jan–25 Mar 2001			2001-073	27	ph.
and 11 Nov 2001–18 Mar 2002			2001-202	27
14. 24 Jan–08 Mar 1998	SY	Obsidian Butte, Salton Sea IMP	1998-042	24	ph., sketch in Erickson & Hamilton (2001)
15. 14 Feb–08 Mar 1998	A4Y	Whitewater R., Salton Sea RIV	1998-049	24
and 26 Jan–27 Feb 1999			1999-050	25	ph.
and 25 Jan–17 Mar 2000			2000-050	26
and 10 Jan-06 Feb 2001			2001-039	27	ph.
16. 30 Nov–07 Dec 1998	ATY	Doheny State Beach ORA	1998-207	24
17. 30 Dec 1998–01 Feb 1999	ATY	Brawley IMP	1999-048	24
18. 13–14 Feb 1999	A4Y	Anaheim ORA	1999-073	25
19. 16 Sep–21 Nov 1999	T-4Y	Red Hill/Obsidian Butte,	1999-176/	26
		Salton Sea IMP	1999-194
and 30 Sep–13 Oct 2000		Salton Sea NWR/	2000-123/	26
		Red Hill, Salton Sea IMP	2000-133
20. 09 Jan 2002	A4Y	Prado Basin SBE	2002-003	28
21. 11 Jan 2003	ATY	Moss Landing MTY	2003-014	29
22. 22–26 Oct 2003	SY	Lake Crowley MNO	2003-161	29	ph.
23. 24 Nov–12 Dec 2003	HY	Nimbus Fish Hatchery SAC/	2003-201	29	ph., Howell (2003), Howell & Dunn (2007)
		Folsom Lake PLA
Lesser Black-backed Gull – Not accepted, identification not established
25 Sep 1984		Santa Maria R. mouth SBA	1986-321	14	ph.
04 Apr 1987		Whitewater R., Salton Sea RIV	1987-266	13
09 May 1987		Red Hill, Salton Sea IMP	1987-178	15
27 Oct 1987		Carmel R. mouth MTY	1987-270	13
07 Jan 1988		Red Hill, Salton Sea IMP	1988-141	14
11 Jul 1988		Mattole R. mouth HUM	1991-054	16
17 Sep 1989		Upper Newport Bay ORA	1989-148	15
24 Jan 1990		Riverside RIV	1990-062	16	ph.
18 Jun 1990		s end Salton Sea IMP	1990-174	16
22 Dec 1998–07 Mar 1999		Obsidian Butte, Salton Sea IMP	1999-061A	28	ph., video
and 13 Nov–05 Dec 1999			2000-001		record previously reviewed, but not accepted, as involving a Slaty-backed Gull
29 Dec 2003		Rodeo Lagoon MRN	2004-100	30
Lesser Black-backed Gull – Not submitted
13 Apr 1990		Edwards Air Force Base KER			AB 44:497
01–07 Mar 1998	A4Y	Salton City IMP			FN 52:257
09 Mar 2002	A4Y	Alviso SCL			NAB 56:353, see table entry 8

Figures

Figure 158. Annual records of the Lesser Black-backed Gull in California. The notable upsurge of records since the mid 1980s coincides with the species’ increased abundance and expansion in the East.

Figure 159. As with the Little Gull, the increase in California records of the Lesser Black-backed Gull mirrors the species’ burgeoning population in eastern North America. The picture would be clearer, however, were younger birds of this species more readily identifiable—all but four of California’s 23 records involve adults or near-adults. This second-fall bird photographed on 16 November 1997 at Lake Cunningham, Santa Clara County, wintered in the same area each year through 2001/2002, maturing into an adult that showed characters typical of L. f. graellsii (1997-178; Ron Saldino).

Figure 232. Most Lesser Black-backed Gulls found in California have been wintering adults such as this one, photographed on 28 December 1994 at Doheny State Beach in Orange County (1994-206; James R. Gallagher).

Black-backed Gull

LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL Larus fuscus Linnaeus, 1758

Accepted: 23 (68%)	Treated in Appendix H: yes
Not accepted: 11	CBRC review: all records
Not submitted/reviewed: 3	Large color images: see Figures and H-19

This Old World gull breeds across Europe and west to Iceland. Its range expanded westward during the twentieth century, most recently into Greenland, where breeding now occurs at least sporadically. The species winters primarily from the British Isles south to Africa and in the Middle East. The number of wintering birds in North America has increased dramatically since the 1970s (Post and Lewis 1995a), and this gull is now a regular visitor, mostly in fall/winter, to the Great Lakes, mid Atlantic states, and the Southeast. Smaller numbers occur regularly along the coast north to the Atlantic Provinces and south to the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico, exceptionally to Panama. Small numbers are now found annually in the North American interior east of the Rocky Mts., but this gull remains very rare to casual in the West, including records from Alaska, British Columbia, Washington, and Sonora.

California’s first Lesser Black-backed Gull, an adult found on 14 January 1978 at Seaside in Monterey County (Binford 1978), stood alone until a minor flurry of records in the mid 1980s and a bigger uptick in the mid 1990s (Figure 158). Since 1994, this gull has been recorded annually in the state, with birds returning to the same locales for up to six consecutive years. Dates of occurrence range from 14 September to 31 March, but most are after mid October. See also Appendix H.

All adults recorded in California have shown the characters of L. f. graellsii, the subspecies that breeds closest to North America and that may account for all of this continent’s records (Post and Lewis 1995a). Undoubtedly reflecting earlier identification difficulties, all but four of California’s 23 records are of adults or near-adults. Identification criteria were covered by Binford (1978), Harris et al. (1989), Post and Lewis (1995b), Jonsson (1998), and Olsen and Larsson (2004).

SLATY-BACKED GULL Larus schistisagus (Stejneger, 1884) – see Appendix H

[GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULL Larus marinus Linnaeus, 1758 – see hypothetical section and Appendix H]