Guys, are these seagulls?

[elleng]

They were/are on a fallow field near my cottage, between a creek and a river, in southern Maryland.

[uppityperson]

1. Indeed they are. The one on the right is younger, does not have its full colors yet, still speckled.

I think they take a couple yrs to get the crisp white and grey.

[elleng]

2. Thanks, uppity.

There was a nice size flock, but was raining and I was in the car, so couldn't get a fuller picture.

[uppityperson]

4. I forgot this forum was here, fun looking through as I really like birds/birding. What do you call

a seagull in the midwest, thousands of miles from a sea? That always puzzled me but there they were in the fields, especially after the harvest.

On the one hand, gulls are the rats of the bird world. Ubiquitous and eating anything. On the other hand, there are so many kinds and sizes, and they are really beautiful as adults, funny as teens.

[elleng]

6. Right, uppity, just re-joined this group,

as there are lots of birds around here!

I grew up in Brooklyn, and used to refer to a gentleman who lived in our apartment building as Mr. SEAGULL, even tho his name was spelled differently!

[MuseRider]

7. I am as Midwest as it gets

here in Kansas and we call them Seagulls!

We actually get quite a few of them from time to time. There will be weeks with huge flocks flying around my big pond. Occasionally I hear of the flocks of Pelicans that fly over stopping at the reservoirs close by for a very short time.

I love when the Seagulls are around. It makes me think of my favorite thing in the world, the ocean!

[Curmudgeoness]

3. Looks like Ring-billed Gulls.

Very common gulls. The black ring on the beak helps to identify this one.

[mopinko]

5. the most common bird in cook county.

or at least it was the last census i saw, which was a while ago.

i guess we should call them lake gulls. great lake gulls.

[catchnrelease]

8. Name nazi

Back in the '80's I often went on birding field trips with the local Audubon group. (In So Calif.) One of the more experienced group leaders was really a stickler for using the correct names for the different species. To this day when I hear someone say 'seagull' I think of him. He would go off on a rant about how "They are NOT seagulls, they are _____gulls. If you see them in a parking lot do you call them Parking Lot gulls???" And don't dare say Bluejay if you see a Scrub Jay because "WE DO NOT HAVE BLUE JAYS IN CALIFORNIA!!" 'Canadian' Geese????? You would definitely get corrected CANADA geese no matter if there was 1 or 20. He was a really knowledgeable leader but could really go off the deep end over the smallest things. I guess he did impress on me to try to use the right names, but I think he did embarrass some of the newer folks that came out on his trips.

[mopinko]

9. ok, i don't usually do this, but

was telling my son about this thread. i explained that the great thing was sort of a birder joke, since so many birds are called great, and there are so many greater and lesser this and that.
so, he says, we should call it the greater lake gull. i said- only those on lake superior.

here all week.