My daughter asked me why she sees seagulls 100’s of miles from the ocean. I couldn’t answer her. Anybody know? Thanks
I’ll answer my own question. I guess gulls are gulls and seagulls are just a name we use for gulls near the ocean. I saw this info in here on my third search. Thanks to whomever posted the info.
There is probably a landfill site nearby; gulls are normall found near water, but they are opportunists and there is a lot of opportunity to eat at landfills.
BTW, welcom to the board and if I may be so bold, I would suggest a more informative choice of thread title next time (you’ll attract more and better replies).
Seagulls tend to move inland when there’s a storm approaching - it can be used as a weather prediction! Hundreds of miles inland? Where does your daughter live?
Yeah, it helps to have descriptive titles. I’ve changed the title.
DrMatrix - GQ Moderator
I live in northern Indiana where you can’t possibly get more landlocked and we have gulls. I’ve always thought it was weird, too.
Welcome to the board, gluria. Enjoy your stay with us and say goodbye to the last of your free time. 
In your case, wouldn’t the gulls probably come from the several large lakes (like Lake Michigan and Lake Erie) that are pretty close by?
Now, if seagulls were in Colorado, or Wyoming, or Nebraska, or Kansas, that would be interesting, as they are definitely land-locked states far from large bodies of water.
Yes ! The Great Lakes of the USA are natural habitats of what we usually call “Sea Gulls”. I don’t know of any other kinds of “Gulls”. Any ornithologists out there?
BTW: If you throw some Kentucky Fried Chicken bones up in the air high enough, every seagull within 50 miles will soon be hovering over you!
i’ve never seen a seagull (do other gulls look the same?) here in atlanta… (i’ve never been to a landfill though…)
Find a birdwatcher’s guide book and check the distribution maps. Many gulls prefer water (not always salt water) but most are occasionally seen far from it. Herring Gulls and Ring-billed Gulls are examples of species common throughout the lower 48.
ruby: I live in Indiana, too, (the Bloomington area) and I’ve seen gulls in the vicinity of Lake Michigan. I think any of the Great Lakes is close enough in size to a sea to attract gulls.
For that matter, when I lived in North Carolina, I would occasionally see them about 70 miles inland, especially if a bad storm was hitting the coastal region.
Gulls are scavengers and landfills are a perfect smorgasbord for them. They have been moving inland over the years; if they haven’t reached your area, then will eventually.
Not all gulls are scavengers. Herring gulls and ring-billed gulls are, but even those are the two most common you see (because they are scavengers and hang around where people hang around), my bird book (National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America) names 28 gulls found in NA. “Sea gulls” is a misnomer and is not used by birders, as most gulls are not limited to salt water areas. Not even to large bodies of fresh waters, necessarily. Franklin’s Gull is found in central Canada, extending into ND, Minn, and a few western US states. (Minn. has a lot of lakes.) The ring-billed gull, which is very common around the beaches, is found as far North in the US as Wisconsin, and also is found in Central Canada. The herring gull, which is even more common and is found frequently around McDonald’s, and appears in practically all of the continental US and Canada, except for some states around the Rockies.
There are gulls in Wyoming. A bunch seem to hang out just half a block from where I live. I know it’s not answering any questions, just mentioning.
There are gulls in Colorado, too.
They come for the skiing.
If you haven’t seen them in Atlanta, you haven’t been looking hard enough. I reccomend McDonald’s and Wal-Mart.
There are many seagulls in north-central Montana. I see them around town here all the time, eating whatever refuse they can wrest from the clutches of this arid land.
You might also look up the story of the Mormon Trek to Utah and their first crop there – which was being eaten by locusts when seagulls decided to eat the locusts instead.
Some birds can nest on the water, like the kingfisher.