Ring-billed Gull

Last year, I posted a picture of a Ring-billed Gull (Larus delawarensis) on a lamp between Pier 5 & 6 in Brooklyn Bridge Park. This year, with a better-lensed camera, I offer another shot of a Ring-billed on the fence in the same area. Could it be the same bird? It’s very tolerant of people, indeed, it has clearly become dependent on our food-spilling and wasting ways. Recently it was shadowing some picnickers (yes, picnicking in January).Ring-billed Gulls are the most common over the city (a friend calls them “Ghetto Gulls”). As sunset approaches, the air above the harbor becomes quite active with them, flying, swooping, crying out. It’s a fine spectacle. They make me want to ride the wind. They are preparing to settle in for the night. One nighttime roosting spot is the end of Pier 6. There was at least one Herring Gull, a rather larger bird, in this crowd of Ring-bills.