Hi:
It could be that we are seeing the expansion of Laughing Gulls on the west
coast. They do live down south in Mexico on the west coast. No big
surprise that they may have been pushed north out of Mexico into Cal due to
the changes in water conditions in the Sea of Cortez. There is an email
from Alvaro on this very subject a few days ago on CalBirds. They are one
of my favorite birds, Alvaro mentions one of my favorite banding reports.
I grew up looking at Laughing Gulls in Barnegat Light NJ, a young Laughing
Gull was banded there, it turned up in very poor health and unfortunately
did not recover, in Hawaii! Interesting to know if this is a west coast
breeder or a wanderer. Here is the news piece on the Barnegat Light bird.
Real question is in 10-20 years will this be a rare bird in Oregon?
https://sora.unm.edu/sites/default/files/journals/jfo/v052n04/p0340-p0341.pdf
Bob Archer
PDX
