22 March 2017

Lake County Iceland Gulls - Last Day of Winter 2017

On Sunday, Greg Neise, Adam Sell and I worked the large gulls at North Point Marina for nearly 6 hours. Here's a collection of some of the Kumlien's & Thayer's Iceland Gulls we found.

Lake County, Illinois. Sunday, 19 March 2017.


The contrasting gray slivers on the outer webs of p8-p9 are hardly noticeably with brighter light. See next image.

No doubt this bird wouldn't get a second look in nominate glaucoides' winter range.






At this angle, the lighting projects a Kumlien's left wing and a Thayer's right wing. Perhaps more important than any other factor when identifying adults in this complex, is lighting!




The open bill gives this individual a very large-headed appearance. If it was summer in Anchorage, it would be identified as a Cook Inlet Gull.