It’s been a little while since I took a trip out to Cedar Key, but my last trip was very fruitful. It wasn’t long after Hurricane Idalia had been through, and a group of flamingos had been blown off track and ended up out there. I went out to see them, but unfortunately they were too far away to photograph well, but I did see quite a few other birds while I was there. One of the most common birds out there are the laughing gulls (Leucophaeus articilla). Cedar Key was started as a fishing village, and now has become mostly a tourist town. There’s still an active fishing community, too, though. And wherever there are fish, there are seagulls. Laughing gulls are pretty common on the Florida coast now, but at one point they were nearly extinct, mainly due to hunting for their feathers. Conservation efforts and laws have helped to bring this funny species back from the brink. They got their common name because their call sounds very much like a person laughing. They tend to be boisterous and bold around people, so between their personalities and their laugh, they are often very entertaining. Thank goodness their species is still with us!