glaucoides - kumlieni

(last update: January 26, 2012)

Iceland Gull (glaucoides) 2cy, March 01 2010, Njardvik, SW Iceland. Picture: Hans Larsson.

Age 2cy: showing dark bill with slightly paler base, dark iris, juvenile plumage, barred tail and arrow points or sub-terminal patterns (speckling) at primary tips and secondaries and boldly barred undertail coverts.

Primary category: --

Pale bird showing some grey-brown on centres of inner primaries and secondaries, most prominent as vermiculation on outer-webs of secondaries. Outer primaries paler, yet still with a grey tone on the inner-webs, contrasting with white outer-webs.

Note: Hans Larsson presents many images on this site, all birds photographed late February - early March in Iceland. Identification on sub-species level is tentative in these birds, as both Canadian kumlieni and nominate glaucoides (bulk of the birds of course) may be expected late winter. On location, most birds will belong to pale glaucoides, (and most are readily identified as such, showing very pale to white plumage), but in the spectrum, the exact line between dark glaucoides and pale kumlieni is still subject of debate and birds in this overlapping zone may probably best left unidentified at time present.
See als Hans Larsson's website.