The SCCF shorebird team recently encountered a young banded herring gull (Larus smithsonianus) from Great Duck Island, Maine (over 1,400 miles away).

The gull, which bore an orange leg band with the code “U4N,” was sighted in a large mixed flock containing other migratory species, including several previously documented royal terns (Thalasseus maximus).

After reporting the juevenile herring gull’s band to the U.S. Geological Survey’s Bird Banding Laboratory, SCCF Shorebird Biologist Audrey Albrecht received a certificate stating the bird had been banded in June 2024 on Great Duck Island, Maine, by a researcher from the College of the Atlantic.

The College of the Atlantic has been performing research at Great Duck Island since 1999. Gulls nest on the island during the summer, which is when scientists place metal bands on chicks. Once birds are large enough, they receive a color band with a three digit letter-number-letter combination. 

“This enables them to keep track of birds as they grow and document when they return to the island,” Albrecht said. “While the project has received many reports of their banded birds from the northeast, very few Gulf Coast observations have been recorded.”

Several other species of gulls that nest and live up north can be found wintering on Sanibel and Captiva Islands during their nonbreeding seasons, including Bonaparte’s gulls (Chroicocephalus philadelphia), ring-billed gulls (Larus delawarensis), and lesser black-backed gulls (Larus fuscus). These birds can often be found resting in large mixed flocks along the beaches.

“We mostly see juvenile herring gulls, as they are generally more migratory than adults. Gulls take three to four years to reach maturity,” Albrecht said. “Juvenile herring gulls can be identified by their mottled brown backs, dark eyes, dark bill, and large size. As they get older, their bill becomes lighter, eventually turning yellow.”

Bird band codes can be reported at reportband.gov.