There is currently a couple finishing up graduate work on the GW gull,
Western Gull, and Hybrids in the Grays Harbor area. Their focus of
emphasis is on the breeding biology of these species/hybrids. I'm not sure
of their names or results since they are friends of a birding friend of
mine. A couple of serious questions come to my mind.
1)Sorry if I sound harsh, but the reason why species are designated by the
AOU is because IT IS SUPPOSE TO BE A DISTINCT SPECIES, the OLYMPIC GULL IS
A HYBRID. For this reason alone it can be affectunately called "olympic
gull" but formalized project such as CBC still must be noted s GW x W
hybrid.

2)A comment was made that these seem to interbreed heavily, is it possible
that GW, W, and hybrid couild all be subspecies. One piece of evidence to
look at is are the offspring sterile or not. Often a species will
interbreed yet rarely does that offspring have the capabilty to produce
offspring.

3)There is more to a species than if it looks different, many "subspecies"
look very different yet are not deemed to fit the profile of a separate
species. This is why I believe that very birder can only benefit from a
greater scientific background so that they understand the biology (at
least somewhat) of the bird they're looking at!

I'll step off my high horse now.

Scott Downes
sdownes at u.washington.edu
Seattle WA