This seagull was on the front of our dock and luckily I whipped out my hog cameraphone and was able to get some shots which blown up gave the ability to view the code on the tag. Only problem is I can’t tell where to report it to. It’s obviously part of some scientific tagging program but I just don’t know which one. Any help or if someone knows, pass the link to this post along to that outfit.
the band is Black with white inscription reading OK9. You can click the pic for a larger view of the band on it’s leg.
Good Morning Gloucester 
Maybe he belongs to a Homie gang and that tag is like a homie tatoo.
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contact audubon
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Hi Joey I don’t know of any banding programs but I do remember when I was a kid and that they died seagulls different colors to study their migration habits. It drove the tourists crazy.
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Hello swimdad,
My dad was an artist and painted among the Gloucester boats durring the 60s-70s. As a kid, I would go with him and run around the docks while he painted. I remember seeing colored seagulls for awhile. Just recently, I contacted the Gloucester archives to see if there was any record of the colored seagull project. Noone had heard of such a thing. I was beginning to think maybe I dreamed it. Today, they sent me your post. Thank goodness! Now I know I’m not crazy. It was a wild thing to see.
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saw this guy crossing rogers street during rush hour. he/she was headed to walgreen’s, strolling at a leisurely pace.
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Joey,
You may want to contact Cape Ann Wild Bird Rescue, aka, seabird and songbird rehabilatator Jodi Swenson of Gloucester, at psychobirds@hotmail.com
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Dr. Julie Ellis of Tufts University has been involved in a gull banding program for more than 5 years.
She also has a blog about it : http://gullsofappledore.wordpress.com/
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i don’t know of any banding going on but i don’t really keep up with that.
i would call us fish and wildlife they can probably direct you to who knows.
i’m sure who ever is banding would be interested to know where the gull is.
looks like a very healthy first year baby black back gull
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I know. He was in Homie Prison & he escaped. Didn’t you hear him saying free at last.
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I also saw a banded blackback seagull on the coast if Maine last week. One leg had a white band with a green strip, with the initials BK, and the other leg had a silver band on it.
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Saw a seagull in Seekonk, MA with a 2” diameter orange tag on each side of it’s body, attached to the wing somehow I assume. A536 was clearly visible on both tags
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Dean, below is the web site for the orange wing banding of the gulls. Contact info is at the bottom of the page. I had contacted Ken with a sighting and he was very generous with the information he gave regarding this study. My sighting was in Warwick, RI. Good luck. Kathy
http://www.mass.gov/dcr/watersupply/watershed/study/
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I am feeding a flock of seagulls daily. one has a small band on its left leg, to small to see anything without capturing the bird. This is at Walker Lake NV. Any luck finding out anymore information would be appreciated.
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Joey – we rescued an injured gull on Plum Cove brach. It had the same kind of banding. We ended up bringing it to Tufts in Grafton unfortunately they had to put it to sleep. They gave the banding information to Cornell. It turns out that the gull was banded as an infant on Appledore Island in the Isles of Shoals. UNH and Cornell run research programs there. http://www.sml.cornell.edu
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I saw a seagull this morning while I was waiting to go into work, in Newport, Gwent. It had a wide, white band on it’s leg with black letters A D clearly visable.. I wondered why.
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