There were three American Herring Gulls with bands on the Central Park Reservoir this afternoon. All the auxiliary makers, colored leg bands, appeared to be orange with black lettering, on the left leg, “below the knee”.
Update: Over the last few days, I’ve seen more banded gulls, both Ring-billed and American Herring species. Here are the ones I’ve seen so far. As I get responses back, I’ll update where and when they were banded. What has been interesting is that none of the bands have repeated, which means we’re getting lots of different gulls cycling through the reservoir on each day.
| Date | Species | Band # | Color | Banding Location | Banding Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1/24/25 | American Herring Gull | 100 | Black on Orange | Near Rikers Island, NYC (40.79111 -73.88278) | 6/3/15, hatched in 2014 or earlier |
| 1/24/25 | American Herring Gull | C71 | Black on Orange | ||
| 1/24/25 | American Herring Gull | V67 ? | Black on Orange | ||
| 1/25/25 | Ring-billed Gull | 6U5 | White on Blue | Near Varennes, Québec (45.7122; -73.4408) | 6/30/16 |
| 1/25/25 | Ring-billed Gull | ERY | White on Blue | ||
| 1/25/25 | Ring-billed Gull | ZRP | White on Blue | ||
| 1/26/25 | American Herring Gull | 02E | Black on Orange | ||
| 1/27/25 | American Herring Gull | 356 | Black on Orange | ||
| 1/27/25 | Ring-billed Gull | U47 | White on Blue | Near Varennes, Québec (45.7122; -73.4408) | 6/27/14 |
| 1/28/25 | Ring-billed Gull | 713 | White on Blue | ||
| 1/29/25 | Ring-billed Gull | 59L | White on Blue |
Bird 1 – C71
Bird 2 – 100
Bird 3 – Numbers are unclear, possibly V67
