Why Are These Coastal Birds In Landlocked Lubbock?

This is the time of year that Lubbock, Texas is overtaken by Canadian geese. You'll see thousands of them all across the city as they fly over and congregate around the few ponds and lakes they can find. These geese are a normal part of Lubbock winter, but have you noticed their friends that have been hanging out with them?

There are a bunch of seagulls all around Lubbock right now, and after I first noticed them I can't stop seeing them everywhere.

Birdemic?

I first noticed them a while back while driving past one of the cities few bodies of water. There were hundreds of geese hanging out on land and in the water, but then I noticed a couple of birds flying over the water. I then recognized them as seagulls and was completely caught off guard. I'd never noticed seagulls in Lubbock before this, and only ever previously seen them when a coastal city.

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I know that they don't have to live along a coast and that you'll mainly find them hanging around eating trash, but I definitely didn’t expect to see any in Lubbock, Texas.

I've seen them at the South Plains Mall's parking lot, outside of restaurants, and even flying over my house. So either someone recently released a bunch of seagulls in Lubbock or some sort of blinders have been removed from my eyes so that I can see all of them hanging around town.