Laura Erickson’s For the Birds

Europe’s Common Gull (Larus canus) was considered a separate species from the most abundant gull of western Alaska, the Short-billed Gull (Larus brachyrhynchus), until the two were lumped by the American Ornithologists’ Union in 1931. The American subspecies was given a new name, the Mew Gull. In 2021, the American Ornithological Society brought the bird’s taxonomy in line with other groups, splitting the American form and renaming it the Short-billed Gull. (The Common Gull’s name remained the same.).

This endearing little gull is the common nesting “seagull” of many Alaskan cities.