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Iceland or Kumlien's gull? (1 Viewer)

ortolan

Well-known member
Hi all,
Two days ago whilst doing gull pre-roost at Calvert lakes,Bucks,U.K had this Iceland Gull in very briefly, 5 mins max. Found a few here before but this one is quite early in Winter for here. Detected what thought darker webs in primaries and thought Kumlien's a possibility, thought 3rd Winter or advanced 2nd W, on top of this in one photo it appears to have a black/dark colour ring !! distant and didn't get chance to really grill it as went for record digi-pics then it was gone. Any thoughts on race, age and that colour ring welcome.
 

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I would call this one third winter Iceland Gull, as it doesn't show much grey on the tail. Primaries also look quite pale, especially on the last two pictures.
 
Thank's Simeon, will read up about grey in tail as feature.The primaries do look pale in last two pics but through scope could make out some kind of darker chevrons on wingtips when not tightly folded and when sat briefly with wings tight shut could only just make out darker lines on edge of primaries.
I've always wanted to find a Kumlien's in my roost but realise it's tricky! Another questions I do have are, is it possible the darker marks are lingering signs of immaturity? although I've checked my many old Iceland gull pics from this site and none look like this. Any more opinions/help would be great,have attached two more pics of it, thank's in advance- Tim p.s I'm still trying to hunt it down on tip and roost !!
 

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Kumlien's vs. Iceland

We get quite a few Kumlien's in Michigan and a few Thayers, Thayers always has dark outer webs in at least the last four to five primaries. Kumlien's has dark in the last 3 to four at most, this bird could be said to have no dark primary markings just light gray so it at best could be the lightest of all Kumlien's and not typical.
 
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