Date of sighting: Aug. 18

Hi follks,

I recently got a forwarded report that a juvenile California Gull from Mono Lake was found dead at Trinidad head, in Humboldt County, California on August 17. It is amazing that for such a long-lived animal (see older post of the 26-year-old gull on the Mono Lake colony) those chicks are independent so quickly. It had been banded as a chick in early July. We even banded some late chicks this year Aug. 1!

Last year, a color-baned healthy juvenile Mono gull was seen and photographed near Morro Bay, CA in August as well. What made that one go south and this one north is interesting and puzzling. But they are highly pelagic (ocean-going) and probably following oceanic upwellings. Think about that next time you see a gull on Mono Lake!

This post was submitted by Kristie Nelson.

This entry was posted on Friday, August 27th, 2010 at 4:26 pm and is filed under Birds. You can view No Responses on this post or leave your own response if you log in.