Ringing summary for July 2011

J7Y0 nests on top of the physics building at University of Bergen.

In July we concentrated the effort of catching as many adult gulls as we could. Most of them were Mew Gulls (Larus canus) since these are the easiest species to catch. However, we also used many hours of trying to get as many adult Lesser Blacked-backed Gulls (Larus fuscus intermedius) as well. These are of special interests because they have become urban breeders in the city centre of Bergen. We first observed this nesting strategy in 2007 when one pair nested on the Science building at University of Bergen. This year the number of roof-breeding Lesser black-backed gulls (LBG) is probably closer to 20 pairs. The problem with LBG's is the time needed to catch one individual which our July number of this species indicate. On the other hand none urban breeding adult LBG's has ever been ringed in Bergen and to get information on survival and future breeding behaviour can be very interesting! The first Black-headed Gull was ringed on the 26th of July two weeks after the first individual arrived. See the blog post The black-headed gulls are back.

Our numbers for July are as follows:

Species	1Y	Sub adult	Adult
Mew Gull	1	7	28
Lesser Blacked-backed Gull	1	0	7
Herring gull	0	2	1
Black-headed Gull	0	1	0

We will come back with a blog post on our readings and controls later.