Unofficial Web Site for the

2002 Nantucket Gull Census

A Natural Sciences Project of the Nantucket Maria Mitchell Association

Dr. Robert Kennedy*, Edith Andrews**, Dr. Peter Boyce***

Thousands of gulls spend much of the winter on the eastern shore of Nantucket. Our project is designed to count the various gulls on a regular basis and to record the weather conditions, the tide, and to estimate the food in the water. From Dec 29, 2001 through April 4, 2002, we counted the gulls on a five kilometer stretch of beach running past Siasconset on the eastern end of Nantucket. The graph below shos the number of gulls on each of 21 days. Note that the two counts on 2/5/2002 resulted in substantially different numbers because the tide had changed.

  Herring and Great Black-Backed Gulls
on the beach at 'Sconset
The three major species we observed were: BOGU - Bonaparte's Gull
HEGU - Herring Gull
GBBG - Great Black-Backed Gull

Among the most interesting results, the Bonaparte's Gulls showed the most varibility in numbers.

 
    Dr. Robert Kennedy
Project Director

We have additional information and an official report of the first year's activities which will be made available in the future.

* Dr. Robert Kennedy, Director of Natural Sciences, Nantucket Maria Mitchell Association
** Edith Andrews, Ornithologist, Nantucket Maria Mitchell Association
*** Dr. Peter Boyce, Member of Board of Managers, Nantucket Maria Mitchell Association
Web site developed and maintained by Peter Boyce.