I recently moved from Anchorage to Everett. Yes, many of the Gulls in
Southcentral Alaska are GW x Herring hybrids - although obvious pure GW
and Herrings are seen as well. In my winter birding experience in
Anchorage, Kenai penninula and Kodiak Island - all of the Herring Gulls
are absent. However, GW and GW x Herring birds remain in these areas with
open water, particularly since winter fisheries provide ready food
sources. The waters near Seward, Homer and all around Kodiak do not
freeze. I am consulting some of my more knowledgeable bird friends in AK
- and will relay more information soon - as the question of
hybridization in the Aleutians and Kamachatka reaches is also a good one.
One wonders if all of these species will one day be one and the same?
Can't stop evolution, right?
Kathryn Chamberlin
Everett