Mew Gull

Status Five records. On 9 March 1969 Christel and Norman Bell saw a gull consorting with Herring Gulls at close range about their yard on Sable Island. They noted its conspicuous greenish legs and its unmarked and unbanded, small yellowish bill and were convinced that the bird was either the western Mew Gull or its European counterpart, the Common Gull, Larus canus canus. On 7 February 1976 a first-year bird of the European subspecies was seen by Ian A. McLaren at Lawrencetown River, Halifax County. In the same year single adult birds were seen off Brier Island on 19 August and at Canning, Kings County, on 3 October (several observers); the second bird stayed for over a month, and its identity was confirmed photographically. A second-year bird in very battered plumage found by Fulton Lavender in Dartmouth on 12 March 1984 remained for at least two weeks. It too was photographed and appeared to belong to the European subspecies.