If you think that you may have heard the piercing cries of seagulls floating through the air of Boise, you need not worry about your sanity any longer. Although Boise is approximately 500 miles from the Pacific Ocean, there is indeed a rather large seagull population residing in the city. The majority of this population prefers to spend its time scavenging in the parking lot of Bronco Stadium or having orgies in Boise's picturesque landfill.

History of the Seagull Population

Boise's first seagull resident, Jonathan Livingston III, arrived in the city in November of 1983. It is rumored that he discovered the city's comfortable climate (see Weather) after embarking on a flight to escape what was predicted to be an unusually harsh winter on the Northern California coast. Jonathan notified his friends and family on the coast of his discovery, and the seagull population of Boise has been booming since.

And Then We Have Actual Gulls

There are of course other birds known as "gulls"...they'd be the real ones that populate Boise and its environs. Jonathan Livingston Seagull may or may not have passed through town in the early '80s, but many other gulls have. The landfill probably sees few gull orgies, but it does host hundreds and even thousands of gulls at a time in its less-than-picturesque setting (the most interesting places to look at birds are often the least picturesque; visit many towns' sewage treatment plants, for instance, and you are likely to see a wide variety of shorebirds in a fairly concentrated setting). Common enough gulls in and around Boise are the Ring-Billed and California Gulls. Others include Herring Gulls, Thayers Gulls, and the occasional Lesser Black-Backed Gull, Mew Gull, along with some other even less common visitors.