Last weekend, I photographed this Lesser Black-backed Gull at Rainbow Beach in Chicago, IL (along Lake Michigan):
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOfByA6guT73bASPtuCXkttWXgNAAY9ofxKAE6IHrde_nye0J5xpgoCk3cklYNNQEA-Eyhg95MhqsiqcacVW0HcJ-1NfomDzjuTinjAmv3eCE0TIV2clrLaExraFQV2bGdhHi6OZJ7FwDj/s1600/lbbg+post+2.jpg) |
LBBG (2nd cycle). Rainbow Beach. Chicago, IL (Cook County). 13 Dec 2014. Photo by Amar Ayyash. |
Then today, by complete coincidence, Matthew Winks posted this photo on the North American Gulls Facebook Group:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyqcbQgHJ4J5lDod89F11T9M1QGfbA1TdQxXWoK5YfBbJ-kAPnNCsBGJ5eeHy8HyD152n2bbnPmj0BNx4hWCimfzpD24yC_3lQQOXTQxJJvQasVHT5yXvloLiMZwfgljeD4GPMXFUcivs7/s1600/matthew+winks+gull+2nd+cy+lbbg+1.jpg) |
LBBG (2nd cycle). EastPort Marina. East Peoria, Illinois. 20 December 2014. Photo by Matthew Winks. |
Notice something? Yes, it's the same individual that was on the Chicago lakefront the previous Saturday. Only now it's hanging out in East Peoria, Illinois, approximately 150 miles from where I observed it.
Here are both birds on the water, in nearly the same pose:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGrVBrxoX3ENUdfwd7FEvOQcwNV565F3efD0HI0Rgrngb4yba2u67bkuTP9nVJbFiUvOhpvKNfdGGiebpTPJGkg7ZXkDXeGgvGEdKq4bXp1mqwXjq2AgmWNpI4-20T7ip-okL68stUDqBo/s1600/DSC_2134.JPG) |
Chicago, IL. 13 Dec 2014. Photo by Amar Ayyash. |
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGRypaEQDKxCJsBVckpmnZmM5MTNpiuqbFxOB7L6bz6jm_VEQ9lfR8-hGVvJd2vvAXGopbtxiInSH666q7h4bffuPJs-3gQFR8PXn4P_3ifxVpMG0TukVqlwifnuQ12DE1DoOhKNN8zmIH/s1600/matthew+winks+gull+2nd+cy+lbbg+2.jpg) |
East Peoria, IL. 20 Dec 2014. Photo by Matthew Winks. |
Stumbling upon this neat data point is more surprising to me than learning this bird was seen 150 miles to the south a week later. Matthew and I both think it may have followed the river-ways until it hooked up with the Illinois River. This isn't the first time that Matthew happens upon gulls from the Chicago lakefront. Before this, he had also recorded a couple of the Ring-billeds that were fitted with colored patagial tags from the Dime Pier/Lake Calumet colonies.
Gulls are powerful fliers and very gregarious. They're skilled at finding other gulls that are on to a good food source, and that's likely what this one-and-a-half year old did. It's a great time to be alive where digital cameras, text messaging and the internet allow for information to be exchanged rapidly!