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Recent Gull Guides

From:

Fred Shaffer

Reply-To:

Fred Shaffer

Date:

Sat, 12 Dec 2009 09:07:55 -0500

There have been two fairly recent gull books published, both of which are very good.  The one by Larsson and Olsen (Gulls of North America, Europe and Asia) is a beautiful book with both photos and paintings.  It has very detailed text, but has somewhat of a "european-bias" and may not have the latest information on North American Gulls.  However, the use of both photos and illustrations is very good, with both the photos and the illustrations being excellent.  The book also reproduces many of the photos at a fairly large size, which makes it a beautiful book to flip through.  Also, the book includes very detailed "feather by feather" descriptions of each species.  Unfortunately, the Larsson and Olsen book is currently out of print (even from the publisher), so unless you can find it somewhere online, you probably can't get it anymore.  

The book by Dunn and Howell (Gulls of the Americas) is excellent and uses over 1100 photos to illustrate the many plumages.  It is very good for North America and if I could only have one gull book, this would probably be it.  In addition to the many photos, there is a large amount of text devoted to separating each species from similiar species.  And, the book contains excellent accounts on the various hybird mixes, some of which can occur in our area.  I find this section to be especially fascinating.  And, it includes an excellent section on the aging and molt of gulls that includes over 40 photos of Western Gulls as examples.  The book by Dunn and Howell is probably the best one for North America.  I highly recommend it.  You can get it at just about any Borders or Barnes and Noble.  I got my copy online for only $23.  And, I think that Edward R. Hamilton Booksellers (online) has it for $23 as well.

The Harrison book referenced earlier is a great seabird resource and I refer to it for gulls sometimes.  However, while it covers all of the species in the world, it does not cover all the plumages (ages and molt) of each gull species that you may encounter.  And, the illustrations may be a little less "precise" than is necessary for separating some of the hard to identify species (such as Thayer's and Kumlien's Gulls or Laughing and Franklin's Gulls).  PJ Grant's classic "Gulls: A Guide to Identification" is great as well.  I especially enjoy reading the text of this somewhat older book and still find it useful at times.  However, all the photos are black and white, which can be very limiting.  

I hope this is helpful.  I have and use all the recent gull books, but the one by Dunn and Howell is probably the best (at least in my opinion).  And, I can't begin to express how dismayed I am at missing the Glaucous Gull and 3 Lesser Black-backed Gulls at Schoolhouse Pond yesterday.  I was in a meeting all day in Baltimore.  Gulls have been largely absent from the pond over the last month and it is good to hear that they have come back with the colder weather.  Perhaps I'll head down there this afternoon for a look...

Fred Shaffer

Crofton, MD