{"id":49578,"date":"2017-11-26T05:28:57","date_gmt":"2017-11-26T12:28:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=49578"},"modified":"2025-05-22T19:42:20","modified_gmt":"2025-05-23T00:42:20","slug":"for-the-love-of-all-thats-birdy-there-is-no-such-thing-as-a-seagull","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/11\/26\/for-the-love-of-all-thats-birdy-there-is-no-such-thing-as-a-seagull\/","title":{"rendered":"For The Love Of All That’s Birdy, There Is No Such Thing As A Seagull"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"No<\/p>\n

I don’t join many groups on Facebook but I am in a lot of groups because people add me to them, most of the groups are about nature photography, wildlife photography, bird photography, bird ID, and you guessed it, birds. I guess people see my photos and go “Hey, she belongs in this group”?\u00a0 I dunno, but because I am in those groups photos posted into them show up in my timeline and some of them make me shake my head.<\/p>\n

One of the things that make my feathers ruffle though is when I see people post a bird photo and call it a “seagull” because there is no such thing as a seagull. If you plan on being a bird photographer you might want to make note of that for the love of all that is birdy.<\/p>\n

\"Not<\/p>\n

And yeah, the rest of us bird photographers, birders, birding nerds and ornithologists might just make fun of you if you call these birds “seagull”.<\/p>\n

Under just the Genus Larus<\/em> we have Pacific gull, Belcher’s gull, Olrog’s gull, Black-tailed gull, Heermann’s gull, Mew gull, Ring-billed gull, California gull, Great black-backed gull, Kelp gull, Cape gull, Glaucous-winged gull, Western gull, Yellow-footed gull, Glaucous gull, Iceland gull, Thayer’s gull<\/del>, European herring gull, American herring gull, Caspian gull, Yellow-legged gull, East Siberian herring gull, Armenian gull, Slaty-backed gull, Lesser black-backed gull, and Heuglin’s gull.<\/p>\n

Not included in any of their names is “seagull”.<\/p>\n

Take a look at the world list of gulls here on Wikipedia<\/span><\/a> and you won’t see a single “seagull”. You can also check guide books and birding apps. Or if you want to stir up a birding group on line call them “seagulls”, \u00a0 I dare ya and please send me a link to the post.\u00a0 \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

We said goodbye to Thayer’s gull this year not because they went extinct but because they were lumped with Iceland gulls. Some folks were upset by that lump.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Dude,<\/p>\n

Yeah, I know non-birding people call them seagulls but not all gulls live by the sea and even those that do live by the sea are not seagulls.<\/p>\n

It’s just wrong I tell you and so will every knowledgeable birder, bird nerd, biologist, ornithologist and knowledgeable bird photographer. Some of them, I won’t name who, will go into great<\/em> depth while telling you why.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

I’m just poking a little fun at people who call these birds seagulls instead of gulls and I had fun adding the stick arms, signs and speech bubbles to my gull photos to get my point across.<\/p>\n

My sons used to tell me I had an odd sense of humor and maybe I do but if this post stops one person from calling gulls “seagulls” it was well worth it for the love of all that is birdy.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my gull photos.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the things that make my feathers ruffle though is when I see people post a bird photo and call it a “seagull” because there is no such thing as a seagull. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":146177,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[511,27,520,1022,25,704,188,2000,410,709,26],"tags":[4333,521,90,4230,4264,3995,4160,6247,4468],"class_list":["post-49578","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-antelope-island-state-park","category-avian","category-california-gulls","category-davis-county-utah","category-florida","category-fort-de-soto-county-park","category-laughing-gulls-gulls","category-pinellas-county-florida","category-ring-billed-gulls","category-salt-lake-county-utah","category-utah","tag-california-gull","tag-gulls","tag-humor-2","tag-larus-californicus","tag-larus-delawarensis","tag-laughing-gull","tag-leucophaeus-atricilla","tag-no-such-things-as-a-seagull","tag-ring-billed-gull"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/no-such-thing-as-a-seagull-mia-mcpherson-0297.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-cTE","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":118440,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/11\/22\/resting-ring-billed-gull\/","url_meta":{"origin":49578,"position":0},"title":"Resting 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McPherson","date":"November 8, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Since I frequently get asked which is which I thought this would be a good time to do a winter California and American Herring Gull comparison and ID feature post.","rel":"","context":"In "American Herring Gulls"","block_context":{"text":"American Herring Gulls","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/gulls\/herring-gulls\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Herring Gull - California Gull Comparison and ID Features, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/herring-california-gull-winter-adult-comparison-mia-mcpherson-0305.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/herring-california-gull-winter-adult-comparison-mia-mcpherson-0305.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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