18 September 2024: En route flying home to Pittsburgh via Seville –> Barcelona –> Chicago

Today I’m flying home from Seville to Pittsburgh with connections in Barcelona (east of Seville and further away from home) and Chicago (an hour beyond home). All told my journey will take 18.5 hours.

When I get to O’Hare airport in Chicago I might see this common North American bird that’s almost impossible to see where I’ve been in southern Spain.

Ring-billed gulls (Larus delawarensis) are North American birds that rarely stray across the Atlantic. Even when they do they usually end up in Iceland, Ireland, England, France, or northeastern Portugal. In southern Spain they generate Rare Bird Alerts.

However if ring-billed gulls hang out at O’Hare Airport, I’ll see one this afternoon in Chicago. Later I’ll land in Pittsburgh where I’ll arrive before the ring-billed gull flocks that visit over the winter. They won’t show up in good numbers until November.