When Jeanette and I were at the Monmouth Wastewater Treatment Plant two days ago looking for the Field Sparrow, we also counted a great number of birds on the water, and most noticeable were three Short-billed Gulls. This became a very intriguing bird to me. To begin with, none of dozen or so bird guides I have, listed a Short-billed Gull. It was only after using the Internet to search e-Bird and related sources that I discovered that in 2021 the name of the Mew Gull was changed to Short-billed Gull. It's not a gull we see here in the Willamette Valley that much, only in winter as it hangs out here while away from its summer breeding grounds in Alaska.
The change threw me off also. last year I was trying to enter Mew Gull in my ebird list and it wasn't appearing. I had to go back to old submissions to find that the name changed! Same issue I had when they changed Gray Jay to Canada Jay!
ReplyDeleteYes, change is hard.
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