glaucoides - kumlieni

(last update: January 26, 2012)

Kumlien's Gull (kumlieni) 4cy / 5cy, March 01 2010, Njardvik, SW Iceland. Picture: Hans Larsson.

Age 3rd / 4th winter: showing adult-like inner primaries, yellow bill with reduced dark spot, and only immature features found on centres of greater primary coverts and central rectrices.

Primary category: --

White primaries, with darker outer-webs on P7-P10 and sub-terminal band most obvious on P8. Melanism in primaries noticable darker than any hue on primary coverts makes this a strong Kumlien's Gull candidate, however, ideally the iris should not be pale yellow without amber tones in immatures.

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.