Hi Tweets,

Don's discussion on "sea" gulls in Utah included the question whether =
the gulls were named "California" gulls when they saved the pioneers.

My knowledge of Mormon history is sketchy, anymore, but Brigham Young =
led his group from the Nauvoo, Illinois settlement in 1846. He arrived =
in Deseret ("This is the place") in July of 1847, after a brief hiatus =
while the "Mormon Brigade" went off to fight in the Mexican War. In May =
of 1848, the story goes that the Mormons' crops were saved by a huge =
flock of "seagulls" that descended on the horde of crickets that swarmed =
down from the mountains. The Mormons ascribed the advent of the birds =
to Divine intervention in response to prayer.

The gull in question, according to the 1957 and 1983 AOU Checklists, was =
described as _Larus Californicus_ in 1854 by Lawrence (Ann. Lyc. Nat. =
Hist. New York, 6, p 79.) from the type specimen collected near =
Stockton, California. I'm not sure *when* the A.O.U. started putting =
"official" common names to the birds of this continent, but their first =
check-list was published in 1886.

I have *no* idea when Utahns selected this gull as their state bird; for =
that matter I have no idea when the rest of the States selected any of =
their State Birds..... It seems I remember that school kids got to vote =
on the State bird of Oregon sometime in the 1920s(?). They selected the =
W Meadowlark, down there, and we got the "Willow" Goldfinch up here in =
Washington.

Anyway, the California gull was just a sea gull when it saved the =
Mormons' crops in the 1840s.

Jon. Anderson
Olympia, Washington
festuca at olywa.net