Warning: Don't tell a birder you saw a 'seagull' at the beach

I called a ring-billed gull a seagull at a birdwatching meetup in Santa Cruz and got a 15 minute lecture on how 'seagull' isn't even a real species. Now I just point and say 'bird' to avoid the drama, has anyone else triggered a birder by accident?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_simon20d ago

Wait, a full 15 minutes? You gotta be kidding me. Thats longer than most of my class periods at school. I once called a black capped chickadee a "little gray bird" near a feeder and this lady at the park gave me the death stare for a solid ten seconds before walking away. I thought that was bad, but a whole lecture on 'seagull' being fake is next level. Did he pull out a field guide and start pointing at pictures too?

carter.laura7d ago

Bet the guy had a whole binder of gull photos ready to go. Met someone like that at the beach once, insisted I call a ring-billed gull a "common ring-billed" or I was wrong. People get way too invested in teaching strangers the right bird words.

the_nathan20d ago

People get weirdly territorial about bird names. @the_simon, it's like they think common names will ruin birding for everyone.