The black-headed gulls are back



J49J på plass i Bergen. Foto: Arild Breistøl


In mid July the Black-headed gulls were back in their wintering areas in the city centre of Bergen. The first one was seen 12th of July and the following days two more individuals were seen. On the 26th of July we counted 5 individuals at both Tveitevannet and Nygårdsparken. This number will certainly increase, and it will be interesting to see how large the winter population will be this year. Since the end of the 1980s the wintering population has decreased by 75 percent. The maximal count last winter was only 40 birds, so we have to hope for a better winter this year.

J49J on the picture is one of the most faithful. It breeds in a colony in Trondheim and was ringed there in 2004. On the 23rd of July it returned for its 8 consecutive winter here in Bergen.

On the 20th of July we read a metal ring on a black-headed gull that was ringed at Breiavatnet in Stavanger on the 1st of February 2010 by Alf Tore Mjøs. The same bird was also seen at Tveitevannet on the 12th of February 2011, suggesting that it also spends winters in the Bergen area. Our goal is that it will be equipped with a colour ring during the winter.

We caught and ringed our first black-headed gull of the year on the 26th of July. JHT3 as it hereafter will be called was catched by Tveitevannet.


Close-up of JHT3.

JHT3 has been ringed.

On the 2nd of August we catched another black-headed gull in Nygårdsparken. This one had been ringed with a metal ring at Tveitevannet by Alf Tore Mjøs on the 31st of December 2010. We equipped it with the colour ring JHT4. The next day it was back at Nygårdsparken.


JHT4 in the air.

JHT4 has been ringed.