Herring Gull
by Don Balke
Title
Herring Gull
Artist
Don Balke
Medium
Painting - Watercolor On Cold Press Illustration Board
Description
The Herring Gull, the best known of the seagulls, has had a remarkable history of survival. From antiquity, the Indians on the Maine coast had robbed the gulls of their eggs and young, but it was not until their white successors invaded the coast that egging began to exhaust the colonies. This was already evident in Audubon's day. He reported that at White Head Island in the Bay of Fundy he was surprised to see gulls nesting in fir trees. He was told by his host, Mr. Frankland, that they used to build their nests on the open ground, but as people kept collecting the eggs for winter use, the old ones began to put their nests in the trees. By 1900, because of additional pressure from the millinery trade, only about 9,000 pairs were left on the Maine coast. The Maine legislature and the National Audubon Society then initiated protection. The recovery, slow at first, accelerated after 1920. Winter survival was subsidized by the garbage dumps of growing cities. The exploding numbers of these opportunistic egg-eaters depressed the populations of terns and laughing gulls and new colonies extended inexorably down the coast. Even though the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, beginning in 1934, sterilized eggs to the number of a million or more, the Herring Gull now breeds as far south as Virginia and North Carolina, way beyond its former breeding range.
Please note the "Fine Art America" watermark will not appear on the painting or any print reproduction.
Artwork Copyright © 1986 Wind River Studios Holdings, Inc. All Rights Reserved under United States and international copyright laws. You may not reproduce, distribute, transmit, or otherwise exploit the Artwork in any way. Any sale of the physical original does not include or convey the Copyright or any right comprised in the Copyright. WRSH Stock Number XB10588
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April 7th, 2022
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