Did you know there is no such thing as a seagull? I did not find this out until a few months ago on the first day of my Field Ornithology class. I am pretty sure this was the first thing out of my professor's mouth. You will not find a seagull in any field guide. Seagulls do not exist but gulls do. There are over 50 species of gulls. Gulls are found throughout the world. They are are long-lived, intelligent, and social birds. But why do we call them seagulls? Well because we usually see them by the sea and have had the term seagull drilled into our brain for our entire life. An important point to make is that not all gulls are found on the coast. There are several species of inland gulls.
So next time you find yourself around these awesome birds, try your best to say gull not seagull. This would make my professor very happy. If he ever heard someone use the term seagull in class, he would definitely fail them.
No comments:
Post a Comment