>With a recent influx of warmer air from any other direction than
>damn-cold-for-this-time-of-the-year, a really healthy whack of adult and
>First Year Ring-billed Gulls, totally absent from the area through autumn
>and winter, started moving *down*river and continues to do so. My hunch is
>that, in contrast to just about every other northbound migrant species I
>can think of here in Greater Vancouver BC, they're interior migrants moving
>N and *out* to the coast.

Well, Michael, the first Ring-billeds arrived in Prince George a good 3 weeks
ago so you might have something here. Spring flocks of either Ring-billeds or
Mew Gulls are usually seen every year but not of huge size - perhaps 20-30
would be a typical flock. The Ring-billeds passing through here mostly are on
their way to the Ellis I. colony in the middle of Fraser Lake, 160 km W of
P.G. (the colony on the gravel bar near the mouth of the Quesnel R. at
Quesnel abandoned that site a couple of years ago). The Mews most likely are
headed to the taiga farther north. I would imagine that flocks of thousands
starting from the coast or points inland farther south would gradually
dwindle in size as birds broke off and followed their individual homing
paths.

Oh yeah, latest projections are for a cool May so get used to the cold
weather. It all has to even out eventually so I'm bucking for a nice summer
myself!

- Jack


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*Jack Bowling *
*Prince George, BC *
*jcbowling at mindlink.bc.ca *
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