Subject: Ross' Gull origins?
Date: Dec 2 09:43:40 1994
From: Dennis Paulson - dpaulson at ups.edu


Question: where do our Bonaparte's Gulls come from. Do they share a breeding
area
with Ross' Gulls somewhere?

Jerry Tangren

One-two pairs of Ross' Gulls breed at Churchill, Manitoba, where
Bonaparte's are fairly common. We really don't know where are Bonaparte's
come from, as they are common all across Alaska and Canada. These two
species are not known to overlap anywhere else. The great majority of Ross'
Gulls breed in northern Siberia and are responsible for the substantial
fall migration of the species along the *north* coast of Alaska. There are
smaller colonies in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago and on Greenland. Their
wintering grounds are poorly known but are obviously at very high
latitudes, and only a tiny proportion of the population makes it south of
there in winter to thrill birders all across the northern hemisphere.

Dennis Paulson phone: (206) 756-3798
Slater Museum of Natural History fax: (206) 756-3352
University of Puget Sound e-mail: dpaulson at ups.edu
Tacoma, WA 98416