I open my eyes to the sun rising over the mountains. I look around my home, the sparsely vegetated bit of land that I grew up in. I’m a few months into my fourth year, and I’m told it is a big year. I start my day like I always do, with an entry in my very private, very special diary. When I remember to write in it, that is.

April 29^th 2040
Dear diary,
Yesterday was a doozy of a day. I flew around the beach and scavenged for food, like I usually do. I feel so guilty, all I had was a sandwich, fries and literal trash from a dumpster. I need to get better at eating a balanced diet, but I just can’t help myself! Some human man I stole the sandwich from shouted profanities at me, which I’m used to, but then he said something bone-chilling: “Stupid Herring gull!”.
Sir.
You MUST be joking.
I understand having black, mirrored wingtips might be slightly confusing, especially to a simple creature such as yourself. I also get that it’s confusing that we breed in the same colonies (Moynihan, 1956). But HERRING GULL? Did you even *see* my yellow legs? My extremely dark iris with the red eye rings? Most especially, I have a red AND black spot on my bill, not just a plain boring red one. And my mantle is sooooo much darker than a Herring’s. I am so very obviously a California Gull (Larus californicus), sir. And that’s why you get your fries stolen too.

Humans aren’t my only problems right now. My friends in my colony are also being annoying. I turned four and all of a sudden, they are all telling me I need to find a good mate and have babies (Smith and Diem, 1972). I don’t think I’m ready, but everyone else is doing it at this age so I guess I’ll hop on the bandwagon. But I’m waiting for the perfect fellow. Someone who will look for a nice breeding spot with me, help me build a nest (Conover and Miller, 1980), and I wouldn’t mind if they were easy on the eyes too.
Well. I guess I should get my day started. That sandwich was really good… I wonder if Mr. Herring Gull is back. I’ll remember that face till the day I die (or until someone else wrongs me).

June 12^th, 2040
Dear diary,
Sorry it’s been so long since my last entry, but I met someone. He tossed his head back and I instantly fell in love (All About Birds). I responded to his head toss with a begging call, and it was ON. He and I walked around scraping the ground for a while, looking for a place to nest (All About Birds). We walked for a bit when we finally came across a small patch of land near the coast that was perfect for both of us, and our soon-to-be little ones. Callum (my fella) and I started gathering sticks, bones, feathers, and anything sturdy we could find to start building our nest (Behle and Goates, 1957). He and I also exchanged several “choking displays” (see video). Building the nest will take about a week…

June 20^th, 2040
Dear diary,
            We finished building the nest yesterday! I’m almost ready to lay my eggs… Callum has been very great at defending our nest, yelling (see audio byte) and fighting anyone who dares come close to me. He’s been so protective and supportive throughout this whole thing. He’s even taken turns with me incubating the eggs (Behle and Goates, 1957). What a gentlebird!

June 27th, 2040
Dear diary,
I laid my eggs. There were three total. Now I think I just… sit on them for a while. I’m feeling around 3-4 weeks (Johnston, 1958). Callum is getting excited, and I suppose I am too, despite the fear of parenting and the doom of what an embarrassment I would be if I don’t produce “fit” offspring.
I would be an evolutionary failure.
Haha.
That was weird.
Hoping Callum returns with some food soon.

July 24th, 2040
Dear diary,
The eggs hatched today! I am now the mother of three healthy nestlings. The next couple of weeks will be dedicated to teaching them (pictured) the calls and songs they need for when they’re grown.

August 30th, 2024
Dear diary,
The little ones have grown so much in so little time. They plan on leaving our nest and territory in about 10 days. We are heading south soon, as the days are getting shorter here. As much as we love Alberta, we are looking forward to moving to Southern California for the winter. Our flight path is detailed below in blue.

Callum and I are hoping to get some rest there since we spent most, if not all, of our energy reserves on raising our young (Pugesek et al., 1999).

October 21st, 2040
Dear diary,
We are settled in here in Southern California after a long journey. The kiddos are out on their own and Callum and I are officially empty-nesters! He and I have been eating a lot of fish and spending a lot of time at the beach. You probably won’t hear from me for a while as I want to spend the winter with Callum and my colony. All in all, it wasn’t too bad of a season…

—– END OF CALLIE’S JOURNAL —–

Part 2: Current Research in California Gulls (It’s Isabella talking now)

I hope you enjoyed that small break from reality and seeing the world through the eyes of a California Gull (Larus californicus, Family: Laridae, Order: Charadriiformes). These birds have been under-researched in the last 10 years, but I would like to highlight an interesting piece of research that has been conducted.

In 2011, Herring and Ackerman conducted a study of California gull nestlings’ stress levels when hatched around the edges of colonies versus the centre of the colonies. They conducted this study in the San Francisco Bay in California, where California gulls are known to nest from April to July (Herring and Ackerman, 2011). The chicks were sampled at 2-3 weeks post-hatch, where the researchers took small blood samples to measure stress levels. (Herring and Ackerman, 2011). To quantify stress levels, the researchers used concentrations of corticosterone metabolites. Their results showed that chicks hatched near the outside edges of colonies had higher cortisone levels than those hatches near the centre of the colonies.

Herring and Ackerman (2011) also found that older, more experienced gulls tended to nest in the centre of the colonies, whereas the younger birds tended to stick near the edges when nesting. This is important to the development of young gulls because although increased corticosterone metabolite levels don’t impact physical body condition, increased levels may be linked to less obvious issues, such as decreased cognitive ability, or lower survival rates (Herring and Ackerman, 2011). There is also the fact that nestlings residing on the outer edges of breeding colonies are closer to nearby predators, as well as disturbance by humans. As well, newer gull parents display less territorial defence mechanisms in their breeding areas (Herring and Ackerman, 2011). With an increased presence of predators, increased disturbance by humans, and decreased territorial defence from the parents, it makes sense that chicks residing in the outer edges of breeding colonies have higher stress levels.

Thank you for reading this blog post! I hope you have a higher appreciation for California Gulls and that you are able to identify them in the wild (especially when compared to Herring Gulls).

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References

Behle, W. H., & Goates, W. A. (1957). Breeding Biology of the California Gull. The Condor, 59(4), 235–246. https://doi.org/10.2307/1364654

California gull life history, all about birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology. , All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology. (n.d.). https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/California_Gull/lifehistory

Conover, M., & Miller, D. (1980). Daily Activity Patterns of Breeding Ring-Billed and California Gulls.

Herring, G., & Ackerman, J. T. (2011). California gull chicks raised near colony edges have elevated stress levels. General and Comparative Endocrinology, 173(1), 72–77. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ygcen.2011.04.029

Johnston, D. W. (1956). The Annual Reproductive Cycle of the California Gull: II. Histology and Female Reproductive System. The Condor, 58(3), 206–221. https://doi.org/10.2307/1364675

Media Search – Macaulay Library and eBird. California Gull – Larus californicus. (n.d.). https://media.ebird.org/catalog?taxonCode=calgul&mediaType=video&sort=rating_rank_desc

Moynihan, M. (1956). California Gulls and Herring Gulls Breeding in the Same Colony. The Auk, 73(3), 453–454. https://doi.org/10.2307/4082014

Pugesek, B. H., Diem, K. L., & Cordes, C. L. (1999). Seasonal Movements, Migration, and Range Sizes of Subadult and Adult Bamforth Lake California Gulls. Waterbirds: The International Journal of Waterbird Biology, 22(1), 29. https://doi.org/10.2307/1521990

Sherman, E. (n.d.). Larus californicus (California gull). Animal Diversity Web. https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Larus_californicus/#b530caadb96679ae7c50e849ed847b28

Sibley, D. A. (2014). The Sibley Guide to Birds, second edition. Alfred A. Knopf, New York, NY, USA.

Smith, J. E., & Diem, K. L. (1972). Growth and Development of Young California Gulls (Larus californicus). The Condor, 74(4), 462–470. https://doi.org/10.2307/1365899