For you gull fanatics out there who don't get Birdchat, I'm forwarding a
couple of articles I ran across last week that I found interesting.

So why can't WE find a Black-tailed Gull?

Skip
--
Skip_Russell at intersolv.com Voice: 503-690-4214
Beaverton, Oregon FAX: 503-629-9637

Forwarded messages follow:
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>Date: Thu, 6 Apr 1995 11:41:44 +0300
>From: Annika Forsten INF <aforsten at RA.ABO.FI>
>Subject: glaucous-winged gull (fwd)
>
>Forwarded message:
>> From ebn-request at otax.tky.hut.fi Thu Apr 6 09:59:37 1995
>> >From: Koen.Van.Dijken at prgbbs.idn.nl (Koen Van Dijken)
>> >Date: 04 Apr 95 20:05:08 +0000
>> >
>> >On 31st Jan 1995 we observed a Glacous-winged Gull (Larus
>> >glaucescens) at the rivermouth near Essaouira in Morroco. We took a
>> >lot of pictures and sent copies to several people in the US and
>> >compared them to other photographs we found in the literature. All
>> >characters fit Glaucous-winged Gull perfectly and hybrids can be
>> >excluded.
>> >
>> >This is the first record for Europe and Africa. Glaucous-winged
>> >Gull has never been recorded on the east coast of the US and only
>> >recently there has been one record of an immature bird near Chicago.
>> >Furthermore, on the west coast it does not occur further more inland
>> >than ca. 150 kms.
>> >
>> >An article on this record will be published in Dutch Birding.
>> >
>> >Essaouira seems to be a good place to watch gulls in Morroco. On
>> >30th Jan 1995 we saw a 1st winter Ring-billed Gull, a first winter
>> >Great Black-backed Gull and an adult Herring Gull there.
>> >
>> >Koen van Dijken and Theo Bakker,
>> >
>> >Koen.Van.Dijken at prgbbs.idn.nl
>> >
>
>------------------------------
>
>Date: Tue, 11 Apr 1995 21:33:50 EDT
>From: Angus Wilson in Herr Lab <wilson at CSHL.ORG>
>Subject: vagrant gulls.
>
>The point has been made before on Birdchat but it is probably worth
>repeating. The Black-tailed Gull in Virginia, USA and the Glaucous-winged
>Gull reported from Morocco are both on the correct coastlines,
>unfortunately (for these individuals) they are on the wrong continents.
>Black-tailed Gulls reside largely in Japan and neighbouring Russia and
>korea/China. This range is on the western edge of the Pacific. Virginia
>lies at a similar latitude but is on the western edge of the Atlantic.
>Likewise the range of Glaucous-winged Gull lies on the eastern Pacific
>rim, and the Moroccan coast is on the eastern edge of the Atlantic.
>This idea has been put forward before to account for the Asiatic form
>of Marbled Murrlet recorded off Florida or Georgia.
>
>Just a thought! I'd love to hear of similar misalignments to see if there
>really might be something to this.
>
>Angus Wilson
>Cold Spring Harbor NY, USA.
>
>------------------------------