It looks like Wyoming has finally picked up its first Iceland Gull, leaving only Arizona and Mississippi without the species in the ABA Area.
On March 16, James Maley and Shawn Billerman discovered an apparent first-cycle Iceland Gull at Sevenmile Lake, in Albany County, Wyoming. Pending acceptance, this would be a first state record for Wyoming.
Sevenmile Lake is just southwest of Laramie, Wyoming. From I-80 turn south on Hwy 230 9Snowy Range Rd) and travel just over 6 miles to the lakes on the right side of the road. There is a small housing development on the left side.
Iceland Gull is a rare, but regular, vagrant to the western half of the continent. Nearly every state and province west of the Great Plains has a record, and surrounding states Colorado, Utah, and Idaho, have several. Wyoming likely missed the species for so long due to lack of coverage more than anything else.
Surprisingly, pending acceptance of this record and in light of Louisiana’s first recorded Iceland Gull recently, this leaves Arizona and Mississippi as the only continental US states without Iceland Gull on their official lists. Less surprisingly, every Canadian province and territory has recorded the species and Hawaii has not.