A Coatue Nursery

It’s May and that means it is time for the Coatue to turn into a Sea Gull nursery. The Great Black-backed Gulls, huge, formidable birds, start first. The Herring Gulls and other species will start nesting soon as well and, come June, it will be hard to walk out on the Coatue without upsetting the parents or stepping on their precocial, dark, mottled young.



They nest on the ground, grouped together in noisy colonies, in large, comfortable, inconspicuous nests, and all (at least that we saw today) seem to lay three, large, dark, speckled eggs.



They’re intelligent, resourceful birds, and I experienced some of this today. They’re known for exhibiting mobbing behaviour, and as I approached one nest (still from afar, as I was using a long lens), this gull at first circled around me in the air and, when that did not work, flew away and came back with an army of about 30 gulls to harass me into leaving. It worked.



2 Responses to “A Coatue Nursery”

  1. Blair Perkins Says:

    nice pics and happy birthday. quick note. Greater(not lesser)Black-back gull and Herring(not common)Gull. cheers. blair.

  2. Greg Says:

    Thanks Blair. Next time I’m asking you instead of using Wikipedia!

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