Talking with Erick brought me back to when I first began birding. How different it was for me. Follow Erick on Instagram @masmas.aves
In 2016 Davis, Madei and Mallory published a paper on PLOS one journal, about the migratory patterns of Sabines Gulls breeding in the high Canadian Arctic. Sabines gulls breed in the Arctic, but are highly pelagic over most of the rest of their life cycles. Sabine’s gulls are known to winter off the West coast of South America, and off the west coast of Africa, using the rich ocean currents there as their food resource. Of the Sabines gulls tagged with geolocators and recaptured the following breeding season, remarkably one mating pair migrated to wintering spots in each of these locations. The female went to the Pacific and the male to the Atlantic currents. Year after year this pair returned to essentially the exact same breeding location.
Each winter the Illinois Ornithologic Society puts on the Annual Gull Frolic. There are field trips, Lake Michigan boat trips, and top lecturers, last winter the keynote was by Amar Ayyash, author of the acclaimed and much awaited The Gull Guide: North America. It seems to fill up quickly, so if you want to go be alert to sign up when it opens.
Erick talks about both the Windy City Bird Lab and the Field Museum of Natural History.
You can learn more about the Chicago Bipoc Birding Club on their Instagram page, @chicago.bipoc.birders
You can find Erick’s Instagram page @masmas.aves
Erick mentions The Bird Joy Podcast.
Also The Urban Birding Festival.
I hope you found this episode even close to as enjoyable as I found talking with Erick. If you’re a Bay area birder, reach out to Erick in a couple of weeks to see if he can use help getting integrated into the local birding community.
Until next time, thanks for listening, and good birding.