Anything Larus: 05/21

01 May 2021

Sightings:

Great Black-backed Gull (1st cycle). Saskatoon County, Saskatchewan. 01 April 2021.
Kamchatka Gull (adult). Fairfield County, Connecticut. 01 April 2021.
California Gull (adult). Dare County, North Carolina. 06 April 2021.
Glaucous-winged Gull (2nd cycle). Davis County, Utah. 06 April 2021.
Black-headed Gull (adult). Ventura County, California. 07 April 2021.
Vega Gull (adult). Santa Clara County, California. 08 April 2021.
Black-legged Kittiwake (adult). Calgary County, Alberta. 10 April 2021.

Black-legged Kittiwake (1st cycle). Seneca County, New York. 13 April 2021.
Great Black-backed Gull (3rd cycle). Williams County, North Dakota. 13 April 2021.
Little Gull (adult). Utah County, Utah. 14 April 2021.
Franklin's Gull (adult). Tompkins County, New York. 19 April 2021.
Black-headed Gull (adult). Pierce County, Washington. 21 April 2021.
California Gull (adult type). Brant County, Ontario. 22 April 2021.
Thayer's Gull (1st cycle). Ventura County, California. 24 April 2021.
Western Gull (adult). Clark County, Nevada. 27 April 2021.
Laughing Gull (1st cycle). Jefferson County, Kansas. 28 April 2021.

Notes:

The adult Black-legged Kittiwake in Calgary is noteworthy for several reasons: 1) There are less than 20 accepted records for the province, 2) It is the longest staying kittiwake for Alberta (with most birds gone within a couple of hours, 3) It has been lingering at a pond at a landfill and has been seen picking through and eating waste (James Fox pers comm.). I don't know of any previous reports of kittiwakes feeding, or attempting to feed, at landfills.
Nick Ramsey reported a putative Kelp x Herring hybrid from the Chandeleur Islands in St. Bernard Perish, Louisiana on 20 April 2021. Adult type. Upperparts intermediate, with a prominent bulbous-tipped bill, square p10 mirror and slight dusky wash on the primary coverts. In addition to this individual, another 3 suspected 1st/2nd cycle type hybrids may have been present, tending toward Herring.