Herring Gulls, Larus argentatus, Nesting on Sandusky Bay, Lake Erie, 1989

Authors

Richard A. Dolbeer, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Denver Wildlife Research CenterFollow
P.P. Woronecki, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Denver Wildlife Research Center
T. W. Seamans, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Denver Wildlife Research CenterFollow
B. N. Buckingham, Ohio Department of Natural Resources
E. C. Cleary, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Animal Damage Control

Date of this Version

October 1989

Comments

Published in OHIO J. SCI.

Abstract

One of the largest herring gull (Larus argentatus} nesting populations on the Great Lakes is located in an urban setting on Sandusky Bay in the Ohio portion of Lake Erie. The survey reported here, carried out in 1989, indicated a population of 4,250 nests. The population has expanded from a focal point on Turning Point Island to coal piles at the Lower Lake Dock Company, rooftops in downtown Sandusky and breakwalls near Cedar Point. Comparison with data from a survey performed in 1976 indicates the population has grown at an average annual rate of 11.9% during the past 13 years. The population may now be expanding into suboptimal nesting areas.