[Birdnet] Iceland-type Gull still present

[Tim Avery]

I went out to Lee Kay today wiht hopes of getting some pictures of the bird I am
presuming is an Iceland Gull that has been present at Lee Kay since 12/27.  The
mass of Gulls (about 2,000 today) was straight out from the pavillion/viewing
area on the main pond.  The sun makes viewing at anytime of the day very hard
as it is just enough to the south this time of year.  However, I was able to
set up and scope the birds form a position where I was slightly west of them. 
It didn't even take a minute to pick the pale gull out of the flock as I
scanned east-west.  Against the dark mantles of the California Gull's all
around it stood out.  I watched the bird for sometime as it preened.  The bird
was about 150 yards out and I had my scope set at 40x to get a nice look at it.
 Finally it lifted its wing showing an almost "Glaucous Gull"-like underwing. 
The primaries stood out white in comparison to the slightly darker underwing
coverts.  Because of the angle of the wing I couldn't tell if the secondaries
were also this white.  In any event there was a little bit of graying on the
primaries underneath (towards the base and centers of the outer primaries), but
they were predominately white, and the tips were clean white.  I wasn't able to
see the outerwing, so I am not sure of the pattern.  But my guess is that when
seen, these feathers will have predominately white edges with slightly darker
centers.  Cliff Weisse noted what looks like arrowheads in the tips of the
primaries on my original shots, which are a good sign.

I wasn't able to get any shots that can really add to what I already have.  The
birds was too far away and in the light there wasn;t much hope.  I set up my
cameara in hopes I would get another wing lift, but the bird laid down and
tucked its head in.  After spending abotu 45 minutes from the time i found the
bird, all the gulls took to the air.  I jsut started snapping hoping I had 
captured something, but after reviewing my images, the see of white gray and
black  appears to have overtaken the pale gull.

I have spent hours going over the literature and looking at 100's of pictures
that I found and were sent to me by others.  At this time I wouldn't hesitate
to call this bird an Iceland Gull, especially after seeing the wing lift today.
And as I am sure others will insist there is no way to tell as the amount of
interbreeding and the fact that Kumlien's is likely just an integrade, I will
take the optimistic view and that of several trusted gull experts that this is
an Iceland Gull.

Let the battle begin!

Cheers,

Tim
Indianapolis, IN and Salt Lake City, UT
tanager at timaverybirding.com
http://www.timaverybirding.com
http://www.birdtography.com