Tweeters,

In my first e-mail about Bob Boekelheide's idea to call the hybrid gulls
"Olympic Gull", I was thinking there must be an official method of
designating a name to such a common hybrid. It seems a little odd to just
decide as a group of birders to start calling these gulls Olympic Gull (or
olympic gull).

The Brewster's and Lawrence's Warblers were probably named by people
thinking they were each separate species. Research then proved that they
were hybrids.

Is there a way to petition the AOU to officially name this gull hybrid?

If not, Olympic Gull is still easier to use.

Denny Granstrand
Yakima, WA