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Iceland Gull

Status Fairly common in winter, very rare in summer. Iceland Gulls generally arrive from the north in October (average 15 October, earliest 30 September). Large numbers are found around Halifax and Sydney harbours in particular; an estimated 740 were recorded on the Glace Bay-Sydney Christmas Bird Count in 1965. Most have departed by late April, but they are routine in June on Sable Island (McLaren 1981a) and one was seen on Cape Sable on 15 August 1968. Some birds probably spend the summer in our area.

Description Length: 58-64 cm. Adults: About the size of the Herring Gull, with pale, pearly gray mantle across back and wings; rest of plumage white; wing-tips sometimes marked with pale to dark gray, resembling a paler version of the Herring Gull; bill yellow, with a red spot at the tip of the lower mandible; legs and feet flesh coloured, with leaden tint. First year immatures: Plumages white with dusky or cinnamon markings; wing-tips white or dusky; bill all dark.

Range Breeds in southern Greenland, southern Baffin Island, northwestern Quebec and on islands in northern Hudson Bay. Winters in Europe, Iceland and eastern North America south to NewJersey.

Remarks Most birds seen in Nova Scotia belong to the subspecies Larus glaucoides kumlieni, which breeds in arctic Canada and is generally distinguishable by its dusky wing-tip markings. The subspecies Larus glaucoides glaucoides, breeding in Greenland, has pure white primaries. However, some birds nesting among "Kumlien's gulls" on Baffin Island also have pure white primaries, so it is by no means certain that Greenland birds can be distinguished here.

Adult Iceland and Glaucous Gulls are similar in appearance but the Iceland Gull is considerably smaller, especially in its head and bill. The immatures of the two subspecies may be difficult to distinguish in life, although "Kumlien's gull" generally has dusky primaries. Both may be studied about docks in winter, but the number of "white-winged" gulls that winter here varies considerably from year to year.

Thayer's Gull, Larus thayeri, once regarded as a subspecies of the Herring Gull but now recognized as being closely related to the Iceland Gull, nests in the Canadian Arctic and migrates to the Pacific coast and occasionally to inland and eastern North America. It resembles the Iceland Gull in body size, head shape and bill size, but adults may have darker backs than our Herring Gulls and usually do have darker eyes and wing-tips than "Kumlien's gulls." Immature Thayer's Gulls are much duskier than most young "Kumlien's gulls," with the upper wing-tips even darker. There have been several sightings of possible Thayer's Gulls in the Halifax region, but in view of the great variability among "Kumlien's gulls" seen here, such records need more confirmation, perhaps by specimens. Some authorities believe Thayer's Gull is another subspecies of the Iceland Gull.