LITTLE GULL

["james.d.mcintyre" <james dot d dot mcintyre at worldnet dot att dot net>]

Utah Birders:

I received the following comments this morning from a well-known Utah 
birder:
  I don't understand why we can have a Little Gull in the area, which is 

  sometimes seen in the winter on the east coast, and "rarely stray 
  elsewhere" (Kaufmann p. 76), while a bird which is seen on the Pacific 

  coast ALL YEAR can never stray east.

  Go figure.

I am not an ornithologist, but I can suggest a few reasons for the 
LITTLE GULL's appearance in Idaho:
  1.. Firstly, this species is a known vagrant.  It is a bird native to 
northern Eurasia and was first recorded in North America in 1819.  The 
first breeding record was in 1962.  Since then it has established small 
breeding colonies near the northern Great Lakes and Hudson Bay.  I first 
saw one on the New Jersey coastline in mid-winter.
  2.. More significantly I think, single birds associate with 
Bonaparte's Gulls, which migrate from their breeding grounds in central 
and northwestern Canada to both Atlantic and Pacific coasts.  This lone 
bird may simply have been a tag-along.  Remember that Cliff Weisse 
reported Bonaparte's Gulls at Island Park Reservoir too.
  3.. Another remote possibility is that it is an Asian bird that came 
into North America via Alaska.  Slaty-backed Gulls from northeastern 
Asia have been recorded across North America in winter, as far south as 
TX.  (I have seen one in the Pribilof Islands off mainland AK.)
  4.. A few Sabine's Gulls also occur regularly in UT and ID in the 
fall, presumably migrating from their breeding grounds in the high 
Arctic out onto the oceans where they spend the winter.
  5.. Ivory and Ross's Gulls occasionally stray south in winter too.  I 
once chased a ROGU for 2 days near Baltimore, alas with no success. :(
So I think we can simply put this bird down as a vagrant or straggler, 
which Cliff thankfully was sharp enough to spot.  Remember that a 
Hudsonian Godwit was also recently reported in ID.

As for the remark about Pacific coast birds, I think the answer is 
simple.  If they have an adequate food supply, they have no incentive to 
migrate elsewhere.  Of course an occasional bird may be storm-blown or 
simply take a wrong turn.  Remember we had a Wandering Tattler appear on 
the eastern Great Salt Lake shore during 2 consecutive years in the 
early 2000s.  Who knows why?

That's what makes birding interesting and exciting!

Jim
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