glaucoides - kumlieni

(last update: January 26, 2012)

Kumlien's Gull (kumlieni) adult, March 01 2010, Njardvik, SW Iceland. Picture: Hans Larsson.

Age adult winter.

Primary category: stage 3, darker grey or more extensive grey marks on the outer four primaries with complete subterminal bands on one to three primaries. Sub-terminal patterns very inconspicuous, but complete on P7. P10 is scored as "no marks", hence only four outer primaries, P6-P9, with grey marks. (see: primary patterns for explanation). Within the classification, about 12% of Kumlien's Gulls in New Foundland fall into this category.

Speckling difficult to measure. Probably, yellow iris without obvious speckling. Class 1: yellow iris, 0% > 1% speckling. (see chart).

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.