Armchair Discovery -Short-billed Gull split

The American Ornithological Association have recently split Short-billed Gull Larus brachyrhynchus from Common Gull Larus canus (see here) and IOC have announced today that they have adopted the split. I was fortunate to find a Short-billed Gull on the Azores in 2003 (see here), a first and only record for the Western Palearctic. I was rather indifferent to the fact that until now it was considered by most major authorities as a sub-species of Common Gull, it was still a distinctive bird, identifiable in the field and a first for the WP.  In fact there was something more hardcore that it was a sub-species but a 'split' means its more desirable/valuable in listing circles (I tick and list sub-species anyway).  So it is what it is, yesterday it was a sub-species and today it's a species....seems like evolution doesn't always take millions of years :-).