Iceland Gull

Larus glaucoides

This is a rare, hard-to-identify, species that has been seen sporadically during the spring, early summer, and fall in recent years. The first record for this species was in 1988 with over a dozen subsequent sightings. Of the sightings, half are one day only records and the other half have remained anywhere from two days to nearly a month. All of the spring sightings have come from the month of May, while the two summer records are likely wandering non-breeding individuals, and the fall records span the entirety of the period. The single winter record could be an unusual sighting or a result of lack of coverage during that period of the year.

Iceland Gull (center) with Glaucous-winged Gulls by Ryan P. O’Donnell
Iceland Gull (front center) with Glaucous-winged Gulls by Ryan P. O’Donnell
Iceland Gulls (center, right) with Glaucous Winged Gull by Doug Gochfeld