To the editor:
This may sound stupid, but I think I remember reading an article last fall about some study with seagulls that caused the gulls to turn pink/red on their bodies and under side of wings. There is one flying around the Vinalhaven Co-op and I can’t remember what was causing this to happen. Was the article in Working Waterfront, or am I imagining things?
Thanks,
Carol Thompson
Vinalhaven
[Editors note: On two occasions we’ve run stories about researcher’s effort to document the connection between herring gulls and lobster bait. The following excerpt is from a story in the 2001 edition of Island Journal, by ornithologist Wing Goodale:
“… I wanted to learn firsthand just how important discarded lobsterbait is to the scavengers. Do the birds fly a long distance to locate lobsterboats or do they eat discarded bait only when it is conveniently dumped around their breeding colonies?
“To find out, during of summer of 2000 I descended upon Robinson Rock, a ledge in western Penobscot Bay, and dyed approximately one hundred of its gulls bright, indisputable pink. In this way I could track the gulls with GPS, knowing where they were from. I contemplated several marking techniques, but one was clearly the simplest: sprinkling dye powder on the nest.
“Of course, everything appeared easier from my armchair planning sessions. When I actually approached the island I felt like I was in combat – surging surf and diving gulls, strong winds and jagged shoreline, uncertain footing and hip waders an inch too short. After a hair-raising landing, I staggered from nest to nest in seawater filled boots sprinkling a fine powdered dye around the speckled eggs in the hopes of marking the gulls’ feathers when they returned to incubate.
“The next day I was thrilled to find healthy pink gulls exchanging glances. My pink subjects were generally unfazed; the real confusion came from bird watchers and unsuspecting lobstermen.”]