Little Gull
(Hydrocoloeus minutus)

Overview

Summary

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The Little Gull is a rare resident in North America, with most breeding records coming from the Great Lakes and the Hudson Bay lowlands, and non-breeding records extending from the Great lakes to the Gulf of Mexico (Ewins and Weseloh 1999). Breeding records indicate that Little Gulls bred in southern Ontario from 1962 to 1989 but are not known to have done so since (Weseloh 2007). The disappearance of breeders from southern Ontario suggests a decrease in the Canadian population since 1970, but given the species’ remote and scattered breeding locations, and lack of trend information relative to the 1970s, the status of the national population is considered to be data deficient. This species has been identified as a priority for conservation and/or stewardship in one or more Bird Conservation Region Strategies in Canada.

Designations

Population status

Population estimate

Distribution maps

• Manitoba Breeding Bird Atlas (2010-2014): Breeding Evidence
• Ontario Breeding Bird Atlas (2001-2005): Breeding Evidence
• Quebec Breeding Bird Atlas (2010-2014): Breeding Evidence

Migration strategy, occurrence

Responsibility for conservation

General nesting period in Canada

Conservation and management

When the species was breeding at Oshawa Second Marsh, in Ontario, the breeding sites were protected. Subsequent breeding sites around Hudson Bay have not been within protected areas. Little is known of the species’ ecology in North America outside the breeding season. It seems likely that the same causes of mortality affecting other small gulls would affect Little Gulls (e.g., mammalian predators, falcons, pollution and botulism poisoning; Pollet et al. 2012).

Bird conservation region strategies

Environment and Climate Change Canada and partners have developed Bird Conservation Region Strategies in each of Canada’s Bird Conservation Regions (BCRs). In these strategies, selected species are identified as priorities for one or more of the following reasons:

• conservation concerns (i.e., species vulnerable due to population size, distribution, population trend, abundance, or threats)
• stewardship responsibilities (i.e., species that typify the regional avifauna or have a large proportion of their range or population in the sub-region)
• management concerns (i.e., species that require ongoing management because of their socio-economic importance as game species, or because of their impacts on other species or habitats)
• other concerns (i.e., species deemed a priority by regional experts for other reasons than those listed above or because they are listed as species at risk or concern at the provincial level)

Select any of the sub-regions below to view the BCR strategy for additional details.

References

• Bellerby, G., D.A. Kirk, and D.V.C. Weseloh. 2000. Staging Little Gulls, (Larus minutus), on the Niagara River, Ontario: 1987-1996. Canadian Field-Naturalist 114(4):584-590.
• Ewins, P.J. and D.V. Weseloh. 1999. Little Gull (Larus minutus), The Birds of North America Online (A. Poole, Ed.). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Ewins, P.J. and D.V. Weseloh. 1999. Little Gull (Larus minutus), The Birds of North America Online (A. Poole, Ed.). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. (Link)
• Jehl, J.R. Jr. 2004. Birdlife of the Churchill Region: Status, History, Biology. Trafford Publishing, Victoria, British Columbia. 154 pp.
• Koes, R.F. 2018a. Little Gull. In: Artuso, C., A.R. Couturier, K.D. De Smet, R.F. Koes, D. Lepage, J. McCracken, R.D. Mooi, and P. Taylor (eds). The Atlas of the Breeding Birds of Manitoba, 2010-2014. Bird Studies Canada. Winnipeg, Manitoba. Koes, R.F. 2018a. Little Gull. In: Artuso, C., A.R. Couturier, K.D. De Smet, R.F. Koes, D. Lepage, J. McCracken, R.D. Mooi, and P. Taylor (eds). The Atlas of the Breeding Birds of Manitoba, 2010-2014. Bird Studies Canada. Winnipeg, Manitoba. (Link)
• Pollet, I.L., D. Shutler, J. Chardine and J. P. Ryder. 2012. Ring-billed Gull (Larus delawarensis), The Birds of North America Online (A. Poole, Ed.). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. In press. Pollet, I.L., D. Shutler, J. Chardine and J. P. Ryder. 2012. Ring-billed Gull (Larus delawarensis), The Birds of North America Online (A. Poole, Ed.). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. In press. (Link)
• Weseloh, D.V. 1994. A history of the Little Gull in Ontario, 1930-1991. pp. 240-259 in: Ornithology in Ontario. McNicholl, M.K. and J.L. Cranmer-Byng, Eds. Hawk Owl Publishing, Whitby, Ontario.
• Weseloh, D.V.C. 2007. Discovery and nesting of the Little Gull on North Limestone Island, Georgian Bay, Lake Huron, 1979-1991. Ontario Birds 25:90-103. Weseloh, D.V.C. 2007. Discovery and nesting of the Little Gull on North Limestone Island, Georgian Bay, Lake Huron, 1979-1991. Ontario Birds 25:90-103. (Link)