(Continued from Volume 44, No. 4, 1973)
DISCUSSION
The populations of most of the species reviewed have increased
stea.dily from a low ebb at the beginning of the 20th century. Some
species such as the Alcidae have not regained their former distribu-
tion and abundance as sketched by Norton (1923), but others, such
as the large gulls, appear to have greatly surpassed their numbers
previous to 19th century exploitation. Most seabirds increased all
together for several decades after 1900, then others joined in and
increased especially rapidly while several lagged behind or failed.
Several of the factors involved are discussed below.
A. Factors associated with increasing populations
1. Protection. Protection from predation on the breeding grounds
by humans and pet cats and dogs has evidently been a major factor.
Of equal importance for Lcach's Petrels and Laughing Gulls has been
release from the effects of sheep. Close cropping by sheep removes
the rank vegetation that Laughing Gulls require for nesting sites,
and produces a dense turf of grasses through which petrels do not
readily burrow.
2. Clutch size. One might expect species which lay a larger clutch
of eggs (Double-crested Cormorant and Common Eider--up to 6
eggs) to increase more rapidly than those which lay smaller clutches
(Herring Gull, terns and Black Guillemot--clutch size 2-3), and this
has been generally true. But Laughing Gulls on Muskeget and Great
Black-backed Gulls in Maine (clutch size of 3) increased as rapidly
as either of the larger-clutched species.
3. Immigration. The unusually rapid increase of the Double-
crested Cormorant and Great Black-backed Gull populations in
Maine may reflect some immigration of birds from Nova Scotia in
the way that Herring Gulls emigrating from Maine contributed to
the unusually rapid increase in Massachusetts during the 1940s.
There is no evidence whether immigration of Laughing Gulls into
Muskeget from southern colonies took place or not.
From what evidence is available, however, it appears that both
Great Black-backed Gull and Double-crested Cormorant popula-
tions in Nova Scotia were increasing during the same decades as
were the populations in Maine, although the rate of growth is not
clear. If one suggests that immigration contributed to the rapid
increase in Maine, one must account for simultaneous increase of
the breeding population in Nova Scotia in the presence of emigTa-
tion.
The increases recorded are arithmetically "possible" if there was
almost perfect survival of fledged young during the decades in-
volved.
4. Social characteristics. Seabirds which feed close to their nests,
nest in small dispersed groups, and those which feed at distances
from their nests, nest in large dense groups (Lack, 1966). Among
the seabird species nesting in New England, Least Terns, Ccmmon
Eiders, the large gulls, and Black Guillemots feed close to their
nests. Others such as Leach's Petrel, Arctic Tern, Roseate Tern,
and Common Purlin feed at relatively longer distances from their
nests.
The species that feed at longer distances have fewer colonies and
stronger site tenacity or group adherence. Even though Roseate and
Arctic terns have shifted colony sites several times, the colony mem-
bers moved all together in a dense group. Common Puffins have not
founded a new colony in Maine since before 1900.
Among the species reviewed here, the less intensely colonial species
have had larger population increases and expanded their ranges more
than the more intensely colonial species. The more intense site
tenacity or group adherence might have inhibited population
growth by inhibiting the founding of new colonies.
B. The effects of the increase of the Herring Gull population
Interactions with Herring Gulls have apparently played im-
portant roles both in unusually rapid increases of some species and
in the sudden reversal of population trends of others.
(1) The three species that have increased most rapidly (Double-
crested Cormorant, Common Eider, and Great Black:backed Gull)
usually established new colonies in existing Herring Gull colonies.
Thus the fact that there has always been a surplus of Herring Gull
colonies might have facilitated population growth.
Herring Gulls, terns, and Black Guillemots, whose populations
have increased more slowly (Figs. 2 and 4), founded their colonies
on their own, without making use of already established seabird
colonies. Although Herring Gulls settled on tern or Laughing Gull
colonies, most of their colonization was of unoccupied islands.
Double-crested Cormorants occupy a number of rocky ledges
where no gulls breed, but most of their colonies are on the edges of
existing Herring Gull colonies. They seem to suffer little predation
from gulls unless intruders disturb a colony, and they are one of the
few species which displace both Great Black-backed Gulls and
Herring Gulls from the preferred nesting sites on the tops of islands.
The close association of Common Eiders, Herring and Great
Black-backed gulls appears to be complex. Gull predation has fre-
quently been observed on Common Eider chicks and eggs (Mendall,
1968), yet field experience of the last 10 years indicates that very
few Common Eider females nest on islands that are not gull colonies.
Finnish observers (NystrSm, 1927; Olsoni, 1928; Bergman, 1939;
yon Haartman, 1945) have reported that many diving ducks favor
islands with nesting gulls, and have suggested that one selective ad-
vantage in the Baltic area is avoidance of predation by crows.
A puzzling aspect of the species interactions is the apparently
successful coexistence of Great Black-backed and Herring gulls
throughout their ranges despite obvious competition. Black-back
predation on Herring Gull chicks is frequent (Paynter, 1949; Harris,
1964, 1965; Weaver, 1970). Erwin (1971) found a positive correla-
tion between Herring Gull nesting success and increasing distance
from Black-back nests in a mixed colony. But measurements of
breeding success for all members of a colony shoved no simple cor-
relation between the breeding success of Herring Gulls and the
number of Black-back pairs on the island (Kadlec and Drury,
1968a). Increase in the Great Black-backed Gull population might
be partially responsible for the slower increase in Herring Gull popu-
lation after 1950.
(2) Common Puffins, Razorbills, and Common Murres suffer
from gull interference. Nettleship (1972c) measured the impact on
Common Puffins, which was serious even in a large colony. One
should expect such predation and piracy to have an exaggerated
impact on small populations. Prospecting has been seen at several
former alcid colonies in Maine, but gulls now occupy all of them and
gull interference may have inhibited or prevented recolonization.
Laughing Gulls and the large terns have declined for several de-
cades and the decline seems to have been associated with their being
displaced from traditional breeding grounds (Gross, 1948b; Norton,
1924b, 1925a; Wetherbee et al., 1972).
The censuses of terns made in the first three decades of this
century are scattered, variable, and strongly influenced by one or
two critical estimates, so they can be interpreted several ways. Nis-
bet (1973) concluded that the tern population in Massachusetts
reached its peak before 1920 and Norton (1925a) reported that the
tern population in Maine had already reached its peak. Allen and
Norton (1931) repeated this opinion. Nisbet's conclusion suggests
that the decline began in the south before the impact of gull inter-
ference could have been felt.
Later censuses in Maine (Allen and Norton, 1931; Palmer, 1949)
indicate that terns continued to increase together with gulls into the
early 1940s in spite of being driven from most of their traditional
colonies by gulls.
Nevertheless, the numbers of terns breeding on Muskeget de-
clined abruptly after 1935 coincident with the spectacular increase
there of Laughing Gulls. Terns left Penikese and Tern Island soon
after gulls arrived and a similar litany might be said for about 20
islands.
The mechanism by which the growing gull population displaces
the smaller species appears to be straightforward. Some iramatures
of the larger gulls are apparently excluded from existing colonies and
upon reaching breeding age these are evidently attracted by social
stimuli provided by an established colony of smaller larid species.
The first Herring Gull colonists are joined by others and after the
gull colony grows for several years, the terns suddenly leave. Ap-
parently once terns left the traditional colonies, several unfavorable
environmental factors affected them, including predation and human
disturbance (Norton, 1924e) and food shortage (Nisbet, 1973).
(3) One might ask what are the differences between those species
that apparently thrive in the presence of Herring Gulls and those
that suffer from their presence. What went wrong between Herring
Gulls, Laughing Gulls, and the terns? The smaller species have been
displaced from critical breeding grounds when no "ecological" com-
petition for resources was detectable.
If one takes contemporary theories of community ecology (Odum,
1969) seriously, one should expect community processes (mutual
selection pressures) to have adjusted the species within the coastal
bird communities to maintain maximum species diversity. But these
theories suggest the operation of group selection within closed sys-
tems (Drury and Nisbet, 1971).
Should it not be a matter of indifference to Herring Gulls as in-
dividuals whether Laughing Gulls and terns are exterminated or
remain? The obvious difference between the species that coexist and
those that do not is body size. The larger ones can repel interfering
gulls. Darwin noted that no species can be selected for the benefit
of another.
Darwin also noted that the most closely related species must
compete most intensely. The more closely related, the less easily
one species can drive the other out. Weaver (1970) reported that
well motivated adult Herring Gulls can drive Great Black-backed
Gulls out of the larger gull's territory in defense of a small Herring
Gull chick; hence the long-continuing competition between Herring
and Great Black-backed gulls should not seem unreasonable in open
systems.
The observed interactions among gulls and terns during the last
75 years are more consistent with Darwinian natural selection than
with classical or contemporary succession theory (Drury and Nisbet,
1973a). Unfortunately much of classical community ecology theory
has been taken over into the philosophical structure of the "con-
servation establishment" and is complicating the human aspects of
the search for a valid environmental conservation.
C. Habitat contamination with toxic chemicals
(1) DDE. Three of the species considered here (Double-crested
Cormorants, Herring Gulls, and Common Terns) spend more of their
time feeding at the heads of bays than the rest of the seabirds. The
graphs of their population histories (Figs. 2, 3, 4) suggest marked
decreases in the rate of growth after 1940. In contrast, most of the
species feeding farther offshore have continued to increase, whereas
several aquatic species (not considered here) that feed primarily in
fresh waters and estuaries began sharp population declines during
the 1940s (Great Blue Heron, Black-crowned Night Heron, Osprey,
and Bald Eagle). The major factor responsible for the population
decline in these inland species is now generally believed to be the
effects of DDE on reproduction (Ames, 1966; Ames and Mersereau,
1964; Anderson and Hickey, 1970; Hickey and Anderson, 1968;
Vermeer and Reynolds, 1970; Vermeer and Risebrough, 1972;
Wiemeyer et al., 1972).
Although Double-crested Cormorants doubled their numbers
every 5-7 years between 1930 and 1945, they have not doubled their
numbers in the 20 years since the cormorant control program was
stopped in 1953 (Fig. 2). Postupalsky (1971) found an inverse cor-
relation between levels of DDE and reproductive success in the
western Great Lakes region. Andersen et al. (1969) found 2-11
ppm (wet weight entire eggs) of stationary populations of Double-
crested Cormorants in five localities in Minnesota and North Da-
kota; they found 20-]- ppm of DDE (wet weight entire eggs) taken
from a population in Wisconsin whose eggshell thickness has de-
creased 25% and whose population has decreased to nearly zero.
Zitko et al. (1972) reported 8.6-29.4 ppm of DDE (wet weight entire
eggs) in Double-crested Cormorant eggs taken in the Bay of Fundy
area. Kury (1969) reported 6.2 ppm DDE (wet weight entire eggs)
in Double-crested Cormorant eggs taken from Muscongus Bay,
Maine, and 7.6 ppm in eggs from the Isles of Shoals. Kury suggested
that the Double-crested Cormorants in Muscongus Bay appeared
to be unaffected by DDE and in the course of about 150 visits to
Double-crested Cormorant colonies during the last 10 years we have
seen only a few (perhaps 1%) collapsed eggs with rubbery shells.
However, the fiedging success Kury reported ("only one young to
survive per nesting pair") is scarcely larger than that in the report-
edly stationary or declining populations in the Lake Superior-Lake
Nipigon area (Anderson et al., 1969; Postupalsky, 1971).
These reports suggest that DDE contamination might be one
factor in the slow increase of Double-crested Cormerants in the Gulf
of Maine in recent years (Fig. 2, Table 1).
A change in slope similar to that shown by breeding Double-
crested Cormorants occurs in the graph of the Christmas Counts of
Herring Gulls (Fig. 3). Growth was rapid in 1920-1940 as compared
to 1948-1970. When analysed for DDE content, eggs of Herring
Gulls nesting on the outer islands of Maine and Rhode Island were
found to contain the lowest levels of gull eggs examined by Hickey
and Anderson (1968). Reproductive success measured on these
colonies was in some cases high (Block Island) and in others low
(Little Green Island, Matinicus Island--Kadlec and Drury, 1968a).
The causes of low reproductive success in Maine's outer islands is
probably the greater effort required in food-finding (Hunt, 1973).
Hickey and Anderson (1968) reported "generally normal" repro-
duction on gull colonies in Minnesota where 60 ppm DDE was found
in the eggs. But Keith (1966) found high egg mortality at gull
colonies in Green Bay, Lake Michigan (97 ñ 11 ppm DDE in 1963
and 202 ñ 34 ppm DDE in 1964, wet weight entire eggs). In the
course of counting over 30,000 gull nests between 1962 and 1969,
many of which were close to industrialized areas, we saw very few
( 2 %) collapsed, rubbery eggs, and we have found no indication
of hatching failure.
The evidence is inadequate to draw any conclusions, but it is
doubtful that DDE contamination has had a significant effect on
Herring Gull population growth. However, contamination levels of
gulls feeding in metropolitan areas and in the estuaries of large in-
dustrialized rivers are being tested.
(2) PCBs and heavy metals. On the whole, the coastal seabirds
discussed here seem to have small body burdens of industrial chemi-
cals, but there are regions where high levels of PCBs have been
found, such as at Passamaquoddy Bay (Zitko et al., 1972) and Long
Island Sound (Hays and Risebrough, 1972). Keith and Gruchy
(1971) reported DDE and PCBs in Leach's Petrels from the At-
lantic. Yet Huntington (pers. comm.) has not found any effects on
Leach's Petrels at Kent's Island (Grand Manan).
(3) Oil. Tuck (1957, 1960) believed that chronic spills from ships
pumping bunker oil at sea are a major hazard to seabirds, especial-
ly murres, off Newfoundland. Until now, seabird censuses in the
western Atlantic have not been adequate to assess seabird mortality
resulting from even a major spill in quantitative terms. For ex-
ample, two oil tankers (Fort Mercer and Pendleton) broke up on the
shoals off Monomoy (Nantucket Sound) in February 1952. The
wintering flock of Common Eiders reportedly decreased from 500,000
to 150,000 (Burnett and Snyder, 1954). If the kill reported was even
approximately accurate, it should have had an observable impact on
breeding populations. But the size of the wintering flock was only a
guess and the breeding ground of the Common Eiders involved was
unknown. No censuses of breeding Common Eiders on the coast of
Maine were available at the time.
D. The present populations
The relative importance of the seabird populations of the Gulf of
Maine has been consistently underestimated. The sandy shores of
southern New England support maj or populations of Herring Gulls,
Common Terns, and Roseate Terns. In the course of this review it
has become clear that major populations of Leach's Petrels, Double-
crested Cormorants, Common Eiders, Great Black-backed Gulls,
Arctic Terns, Razorbills, Black Guillemots, and Common Puffins
breed on the Maine islands. The Laughing Gulls are of special
interest because their habitat includes waters that are markedly
colder than those in the species' central area.
Comparing the results of our recent survey with those of Lock's
pilot census (1971), the Maine populations of all these species
(except Double-crested Cormorants and Great Black-backed Gulls)
are considerably larger than those breeding on the Atlantic shore of
Nova Scotia. Nova Scotia has twice as many miles of shoreline as
Maine.
Systematic censuses are not available for Newfoundland's coast,
which is at least four times as long as that of Maine, but it appears
that the Gulf of Maine populations of Double-crested Cormorants,
Herring and Great Black-backed gulls, and Common, Arctic, and
Roseate terns are larger.
The importance of subpopulations. A species' local numbers is
probably not an adequate single measure of the condition of that
population. In addition to its numbers, certain population charac-
teristics such as age structure, reproductive performance, and
division into successfully reproducing subpopulations affect the pop-
ulation's vitality. Even in an increasing species, the fewer the pro-
ductive colonies, the more vulnerable the species may be to local
catastrophes. This appears to be illustrated by the comparative
history of the Laughing Gull populations in Massachusetts and
Maine.
Between 1900 and 1940, the Nantucket Sound population of
Laughing Gulls grew rapidly and reached a level exceeding 20,000
pairs, all on one colony (Wetherbee etal., 1972). The habitat quality
on and around this colony (Muskeget) has evidently become grad-
ually less favorable as time has passed, and by 1972 the Nantucket
Sound population has been reduced to 150-200 pairs (Andrews, AB,
1972). Between 1900 and 1940, the Maine coastal population grew
slowly and reached only 250-300 pairs, about 1% of that in Massa-
chusetts. Since 1940, the Maine population has also decreased, but
slowly, and still amounted to about 150 pairs in 1972. Now it is
essentially equal to the Nantucket Sound population. One reason
for less spectacular population changes and better survival since
1940 might be that the Laughing Gulls in Maine have shifted around
among about seven islands.
The decline of the Common Tern population around Cape Cod
has also been associated with (among other things) their concentra-
tion into one or two major colonies.
The importance of the Maine seabird colonies lies not only in the
total numbers but also in the fact that the colonies of the Gulf of
Maine make up a number of subpopulations and together constitute
an important areal subunit of the western Atlantic population of
those species.
E. Future censuses
Although the available data have shown maj or population changes
between 1900 and 1970, the techniques are not adequately rigorous
for future censuses. The counts have been sporadic, carried out op-
portunistically without funding or coordination. Precise scientific
investigations of the trends in these populations might have contrib-
uted important information toward the resolution of public policy
issues, but the opportunity to do so has been lost because of the in-
difference or failure to realize the value of such data on the part of
many people including public and private organizations and the
scientific community. More precise censuses are required if we are
to make the best possible use of bird populations as indicators of
environmental quality. For such censuses, the Gulf of Maine from
Cape Cod to Cape Sable should be considered a minimum geo-
graphic unit.
In order to establish a valid baseline census, several requirements
should be met. The most important is that the people taking the
census should use similar techniques and have the time and facilities
to do a good job (Bach, 1970). Instructions for those taking seabird
censuses have been prepared (Operation Seafarer, 1969; Nettleship,
1972a). Techniques include photographic records, properly timed
surface counts, and mapping sample plots.
SUMMARY
This paper reviews the last 75 years of history and the present status of 15 species of seabirds in New England. With several exceptions this history has been one of steady increase of numbers and expansion of ranges, but the large gulls (Herring and Great Black-backed gulls) are the only species that have continued to increase since 1940 in the urbanized areas of southern New England.
Not enough is known about Leach's Petrels to ascertain whether the steady decline since 1900 reported by Allen and Norton has continued or been reversed. The populations of Double-crested Cormorants, Common Eiders, Great Black-backed Gulls, and Laughing Gulls (at Muskeget) have grown most rapidly. The increase of Double-crested Cormorants has been much slower since 1945 although they are now breeding on the coast of Connecticut. Common Eiders have extended their breeding range as far south as Cape Porpoise, Maine. Subpopulations of the Herring Gull have grown rapidly during periods of population shifts, but the New England population as a whole has increased slowly. The center of abundance of Herring Gulls has shifted from Maine to southeastern New England. The increase of Herring Gulls, Great Black-backed Gulls, and Double-crested Cormorants was slowed between about 1945 and about 1958 by the effects of a special control program on the coasts of Maine and Massachusetts. Laughing Gulls, after a period of remarkable growth in Nantucket Sound extending into the 1940s, have declined at a steep rate and have been almost eliminated from that area. The New England population of Common Terns increased steadily until about 1940 and has decreased steadily since then. With the decrease, the population center has shifted west from Cape Cod to Block Island Sound and the southern shore of Long Island. Roseate Terns in southern New England and New York, and Arctic Terns that replace them to the northeast, have fluctuated less than, but parallel with, Common Terns. Least Terns have steadily extended their range northward and south-westward in the last 30 years. They have almost reached Portland, Me. Black Skimmers have recolonized the southern shores of Long Island and Massachusetts.
If the estimates for 1899 are correct, Black Guillemots have increased at a rate similar to that of Herring Gulls, but their range has not been extended beyond its limits in 1950. Common Puffins probably reached a population plateau in their two colonies on the Gulf of Maine in the mid-1950s. Razorbills recolonized the coast of Maine about 1950; their numbers are small and restricted to four colonies.
The Maine islands now support major elements of several seabird species including Leach's Petrels, Double-crested Cormorants, Common Eiders, Great Black-backed Gulls, Arctic Terns, Razorbills, Black Guillemots, and Common Puffins. The sandy shores of southern New England support major populations of Herring Gulls, Common Terns, and Roseate Terns, and the two areas support a small population of Laughing Gulls adapted to a cold water habitat. According to Lock's pilot census, these populations are considerably larger than those found along the much longer Atlantic shoreline of
Nova Scotia (except for Double-crested Cormorants and Great Black-backed Gulls).
Limitations in the available census data, which are probably adequate only to detect population changes of 25-35 %, result from lack of systematic coverage and of uniform census techniques. Proper systematic censuses are needed for the seabird populations of New England's coast because these species are sensitive to changes in the quality of the coastal waters and might be useful to monitor such changes in the future. The species that will most accurately reflect localized effects nest in small numbers evenly distributed along the coast.
Two major forces have influenced seabird numbers during these 75 years: (1) protection from predation by humans and domestic animals; and (2) expansion of the numbers of Herring Gulls. Among the seabirds considered, Double-crested Cormorants may have suffered from DDE contamination. Although the Herring Gull population growth is lowered in a similar way beginning about 1950, it is not clear what factors are responsible. The patterns of interaction observed among these colonial seabirds while they were increasing are discussed in relation to contemporary informal theories of community development.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The starting point of this review was a set of bibliography cards
collected sua spont1/2 by Charlotte Smith. I. C. T. Nisbet recorded
references to all seabirds in the course of his search of the literature
for counts of terns. The report has used many sources of unpub-
lished information. Norton's original census cards were made avail-
able by the Library of the University of Maine. Gross's field notes
and journals and a partial copy of Allen and Norton's manuscript
(1931) were made available by the Library of Bowdoin College.
Ralph Palmer supplied much valuable information.
Recent surveys have depended on the volunteer help of many
people. D. Duffy and 5I. Gochfeld supplied counts in 1972 of terns
on Long Island and Long Island Sound. J. A. Hagar supplied in-
formation on Penikese, and J. Hatch supplied counts from Petit
Manan Island and Machias Seal Island. C. Huntington supplied
information from Kent's Island. A. J. Lock and D. Nettleship sup-
plied copies of unpublished preliminary data from their censuses in
the Maritimes.
Air surveys were made with J. A. Kadlec, J. A. Keith, and P. R.
2\/Iott. Surface surveys were made with W. Drury III, D. V. Howard,
J. A. Kadlec, [. Libby, I. C. T. Nisbet, and D. Weaver in 1965,
1969, and 1970. The surveys in 1971 and 1972 were made with my
sons Peter and John. The survey in 1973 was made with M. Mc-
Callurn and B. Steele.
I thank all these people sincerely for their help.
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Massachusetts Audubon Society, Lincoln, Ma.os. 01773.
Received 26 March 1973, accepted 10 August 1973.