Lava Gull
There are over 50 species of gull. Lava Gull is rarest. Gulls you see at the beach are not Lava Gulls unless you're in the Galapagos.
The Galapagos Islands have many birds. Flightless Cormorant, Phalacrocorax harrisi; Large Ground Finch, Geospiza magnirostris; Galapagos Hawk, Buteo galapagoensis. One species endemic to the Galapagos stands out. The Lava Gull, Leucophaeus fuliginosus. Rarest gull in the world, with 300-400 pairs. One source says “300-600 individuals.”
They are dark, also referred to as Dusky Gull, to blend in with lava rock. The gull’s “wings are dark gray with a contrasting white line on the leading edge, thought to play a function in displays and camouflage.” Lava Gulls are mainly on Santa Cruz, Isabela, San Cristobal, and Genovesa. If you visit the Galapagos they’re apparently not too difficult to find.
A unique behavior of Lava Gulls is they nest solitarily, 100 meters from other gulls. Nesting is May to October. Most gulls nest in colonies, Lava Gulls don’t. They’re territorial; territories are usually around 2,000 square meters.
In the fact they don’t nest in colonies they aren’t like other gulls; in the fact they nest on the ground they are. The only gull to nest in trees is the Bonaparte’s, Chroicocephalus philadelphia—my favorite, which I’ll take any excuse to talk about.
Houston Audubon explains “Bonaparte’s Gulls build their nests of sticks, bark, lichen, and moss on a conifer tree.” The Cornell Lab adds Bonaparte’s Gull nests have been found “on the ground or on top of rushes near the ground, made of twigs, mosses, lichens, grasses, sedges, earth, and leaves.” Their tree nests are built of the same materials: “bark, twigs, and branches, lined with lichen and moss.”
For comparison, Ring-billed Gulls, Larus delawarensis, nest in colonies. They “build their nests on the ground near freshwater, usually on low, sparsely vegetated terrain.” Unlike solitary Lava Gulls, Ring-billed colonies can have anywhere “from 20 to tens of thousands of pairs.”
Lava Gulls seek spots with coastal vegetation, which they line their nests with. Preferred nesting locales for Lava Gulls are close to calmer water.
They lay two eggs at a time, olive-colored to blend in. Incubation takes roughly one month, chicks fledge after two.
Close relatives of the Lava Gull include the Laughing Gull, Leucophaeus atricilla, and Franklin’s Gull, Leucophaeus pipixcan.
Lava Gulls are hooded gulls, but their plumage doesn’t vary seasonally—unlike other hooded gulls. Interesting a gull abundant as a Laughing can be related to the rarest on the planet.
Lava Gulls are medium-sized, like Laughing. A large gull is the Great Black-backed, Larus marinus. A small gull, fittingly, is the Little Gull, Hydrocoloeus minutus.
Lava Gulls are different to the eye. They’re gulls, but not your textbook “seagull,” appearance-wise, like a Herring. They aren’t textbook “seagulls” in other ways too.
The more you learn your gulls, you realize none are textbook “seagulls”—and the more you chafe at that word, “seagull.” An avenue to obnoxious pedantry.
Seagull? No such thing, you might see one at the Great Lakes. “Gull.” And that one’s a Herring.
The Gulls Amos Russel Wells
I watched the gulls in shimmering changeful flight, Darting and wheeling on incessant wing, And each a buoyant and impulsive thing, Kin to the smiling sea and sunny light; Until, down swooping from his azure height, One broke his air-play into plundering, Snatched out his victim from a wave a-swing. And spoiled that paradise with murderous blight. "Thus, thus," I thought, "the blessed angels know Our mortal sporting in diviner air, How happily our fancies come and go On wings of sweet ideals high and fair; And how, alas we often plunge below On brutal errands in the waves of care."
A couple songs this week. Songs I’ve birded to, with stories.
“Woodpecker,” Explosions in the Sky. Instrumental, this will center and calm you.
I’d be remiss not to link to
’s “Ornithomancy.” “You might think I’m mad for expecting any guidance from the bird world, but I’m not alone” (raising my hand). “Romans looked to the avian kingdom to divine what the future might hold, and woodpeckers were the most esteemed of all the feathered auguries.” 2024 has been my best woodpecker year. I’ve seen many species, five lifers—chased a calling Gila, tried again and again for a Nuttall’s, didn’t see a Ladder-backed until the end of a trip. The most memorable lifer was the Red-cockaded, listed as endangered since 1970.Woodpeckers & Hummingbirds. Butterflies & a Coyote
I wrote of the Red-cockaded Woodpecker and Prothonotary Warbler: “I have a penchant for assigning meaning to birds…Sometimes assigning meaning is an unfortunate penchant, but I try to assign positive ones.”
To commemorate my woodpecker successes, I got a shirt with woodpeckers of North America. Embarrassingly superstitious, when I want something to go a certain way I wear it. Every woodpecker you’ve wanted to see, you saw. Woodpeckers have gone as hoped. This shirt will make things follow suit. It has on many occasions, so I wore it for something I’d been preparing for and losing sleep over for months. It went as I’d hoped. My reaction, as if the only explanation: “Well, yeah. Woodpecker shirt.”
A little different: “Sweet Child ‘O Mine,” Guns N’Roses. One morning I was birding. Immediately after parking: Northern Shovelers, Spatula clypeata. My target species.
After watching for a bit, taking pictures, I walked back to my truck. What now? I wondered. Where to? How can birding get better than that? As it often does in my truck, classic rock played: Zeppelin, Aerosmith, AC/DC. This time, “Sweet Child ‘O Mine.” Axl Rose sang: “Where do we go? Where do we go now?” I thought, Axl, I do not know. Didn’t go far, left my camera in the truck, had a nice binoculars-only encounter with a Field Sparrow, Spizella pusilla. That’s where we went, and it was still good birding.
Recommended Reading:
Keepers of the Flame - Fearless Green,
First fire, second fire, third fire (fossil fuels). Difficult to pick just one passage; definitely read or listen to the whole article.
“We’ve converted our home planet into a giant barnyard to feed us in our concrete mazes, and we’re emptying the land and seas of other lives to do it. Our power structures are now completely predicated on access to fossil fuels and insomuch as individual humans have a role to play in this capitalist dystopia, it’s as cogs and lubricants for the great machine.”
Embracing the Unseen - Birding, Invisible Disabilities, and the Importance of Evolving Accessibility - The Birdability Blog
It is Invisible Disability Awareness Week. To encourage people to bird, I say anybody can, e.g. “The duck barrier to entry is nonexistent.” Birding doesn’t look the same for everybody. The duck barrier to entry might be nonexistent in the larger picture, but barriers can exist on the individual level.
Birding is different if you’re unable to walk for a long time, or have trouble on uneven surfaces. If somebody has a disability, it won’t always be physically evident. “Invisible disabilities—like chronic pain, mental health conditions, neurodivergence, sensory sensitivities, and autoimmune disorders—can vary dramatically from person to person…[and can] change for each individual from year to year, day to day, or even minute to minute.” Maybe a birder experiences auditory sensitivity. They might want to bird by ear, but “some days the noise is too overwhelming.”
Disability—visible or invisible—should not be a barrier to birding. For those with invisible disabilities, “access needs are fluid” and can sometimes “make an otherwise familiar trail feel inaccessible.” Accessibility needs might also be invisible: “Instead of assuming someone’s needs or capabilities, ask what support might help.” You won’t be able to see an invisible disability, but “phrases like ‘You don’t look disabled!’ can feel invalidating.” A better alternative is to “focus on being supportive by using language that acknowledges and validates individual experiences.”
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This is such a great read James. I learned so much about gulls and really enjoyed the gull photos and the woodpecker photos. I was out at the Refuge today. Not a lot of birds, but a great walk at Hellcat and I brought a friend who had never been there. She loved it. Always good to have someone to bird with.
Very interesting photo essay, James. I had never heard of the Lava Gull before. I find that interesting about them that they are territorial as well. I've been fortunate to see the Bonaparte's Gull a few times the past few year. Another nice gull to see. I do have to admit though, as many Ring-billed Gulls as I see daily, I do enjoy watching them glide and dip and dive while flying. Thanks for sharing.