Stephenville -
The United States has always had a link with Stephenville through the town being a former air force base and now there's another link dealing with flight.
It has probably been taking place for years, but there is definite proof now that some tagged gulls are showing up in Stephenville from a study being conducted in Massachusetts.
Star photographer Frank Gale caught sight of one of them alongside Massachusetts Drive near the shore on Saturday, Apr. 15.
Having knowledge of a program by The Department of Conservation and Recreation in the State of Massachusetts, USA to track the habits and flight patterns of seagulls near the Quabbin and Wachusett reservoirs, several photos of the tagged gull were sent to Dan Clark, one of the contact people for the study.
It was only hours before Clark returned a message.
"Thanks for the gull sighting and the great photos," Clark said in the message. "This is definitely one of our study gulls."
Details about the bird were attached with the fact it was captured Jan. 9, 2009 at Gate 25 of the Wachusett Reservoir in Massachusetts using a rocket net baited with suet and bread. It is an adult ring-billed gull with florescent orange wing-tags: A161; a black leg band marked NM; a federal band and it was released on site.
From information on this particular gull there were local sightings in the Bay St. George area the previous spring with Amanda DeLodder reporting seeing it on Apr. 12, 2009 at Little Port Harmon; Kevin Hines spotting it at the public wharf in St. George's on Apr. 26, 2009; then Wade Chaffey on May 5, 2009 seeing it at Port Harmon.
Other sightings of this particular bird took place in New Brunswick, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts with the latest before last weekend's sighting taking place at Carson Beach, South Boston, Mass. on Feb. 22.
"As you can see, this gull was in Stephenville last spring as well, so it seems to have a pretty consistent pattern," Clark said. "We are fortunate to have a number of different sightings on the bird. I noticed the black leg band is now silver and we've noticed this before. It seems the paint wears off the bands after a while - maybe from the salt water."
From February of 2008 until April 1, 2009, there were 806 sightings reported of nearly 250 wing-tagged or leg-banded birds captured during their study with those sightings stretching from Canada to Georgia. Of those, there were six sightings in Newfoundland and two in Labrador.
Information on the study can be seen by visiting the Massachusetts government's Department of Conservation and Recreation website at: http://www.mass.gov/dcr/watersupply/watershed/study/.
Clark said wing-tags can be seen from a distance, and the numbers on the tags are easily read with binoculars or sometimes even with the naked eye. He said common places to find these wintering gull species are at landfills, parking lots, and ball fields.
The Department of Conservation and Recreation in the State of Massachusetts is happy to provide those who sight study birds with capture information about a specific bird.
Clark said reports on the project, when available, are being posted on their website.
The species of gulls tagged include ring-billed, herring and black-backed with different coloured tags for the birds and different letters representing the two water supplies where they were captured.
Anyone sighting a tagged bird can contact Ken MacKenzie at Ken.Mackenzie@state.ma.us (508-792-7423 Ext. 313) or Dan Clark at Dan.Clark@state.ma.us (508-792-7423 Ext. 215) with wing-tag information.
