Re: LITTLE GULL

["Cliff and Lisa Weisse" <october at ida dot net>]

I'd like to add my two cent's worth.  Little Gulls are
migratory and therefore prone to vagrancy.  This seems very
early to me for Little Gull.  The earliest previous record
I'm aware of is Oct 25.  Whatever the probability of the
occurrence of a Little Gull on September 1st the fact is
that the bird did in fact appear on that date.  Photos are
posted at http://www.octoberweb.com/birds/ligu/ which I feel
are sufficient to confirm that the bird is a second summer
Little Gull.  However I would encourage anyone, including
said "well-known Utah birder", to examine the photos and
please question the ID if you feel I misidentified the bird.

Regarding the possibility of Western Gull in Utah I would
suggest that it will eventually be documented in the state
despite it's extreme rarity away from the coast (they are
very rare even fifteen miles inland in CA).

Lastly I'm sure a report of multiple Little Gulls at Island
Park Reservoir during the breeding season would generate at
least as much skepticism as the reported Western Gulls at
Bear River this summer.

Cliff


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