eeter lurker who has been sharing many of the more
interesting messages with some of my birder friends who are computerless. I
knew that the discussion about the Utah State Bird would be of particular
interest to one avid birder who is from Utah, so I sent Jim Rosso's original
message and one reply (the one from Don Baccus) to her. This subject is
indeed close to home for her and she was so motivated to reply that she typed
one for me so I could send her response to tweeters.

Jim (96-03-13) was puzzled to learn that the official state bird in Utah is
the "seagull", not a real species. His research led him to possibly
"correcting this error" by identifying it as the California Gull.

Don (96-03-14) responded by saying:

>It is the California gull. But the historic event (eating grasshoppery
things) was >probably shared by ring-billed gulls as well, and maybe even
Swainson's hawks.
snip snip
>If you were to read the first-hand accounts, I'm certain they would say
Seagull...

To this my friend, Diane Yorgason-Quinn, strongly replies:

"You have both missed the real point concerning the name of the Utah
state bird. Speaking as a descendant of the pioneers who were saved by the
gulls, I can verify that most Utahns are acutely aware that their state bird
is the California Gull, and if they refer to it as a generic "Seagull","
it is because of the sting of having another state's name attached to a bird
that has so much significance to their own history. No other state bird is
named after some OTHER state! The insect scourge that the gulls so
heroically saved us from became known as the "Mormon" cricket, but not so
the noble birds. We don't insist on renaming it the Mormon Gull, the Utah
Gull or the Deseret Gull, though all of those would be appropriate -- we just
want the "California" designation removed. "Gray-Backed Black-Wingtipped
Red-Spot-on-the-Bill Yellow-Legged Gull would be fine."


Diane Kerlin
Edgewood, WA
DRKerlin at aol.com