Iceland gull Larus glaucoides

Identification Tips:

• Length: 19 inches
• Fairly large gull
• Bill relatively slim with indistinct gonydeal angle
• Rounded head
• Wingtips extend well beyond tail at rest

Adult alternate:

• Bright yellow bill with red spot at gonys
• Pink legs
• Light eye
• White head, neck, breast, and belly
• Gray back and upperwings
• White tertial crescent
• Primary tips white with gray subterminal markings
• White tail

Adult basic:

• Like adult alternate but blurry brown streaking and spotting on head and nape

Juvenile/First-year:

• Black bill
• Ghostly white or pale plumage with pale brown edgings
• White primaries
• White secondaries
• Black legs quickly become pink
• White tail with gray to pale brown speckling

Second-year:

• Pale bill with black tip
• Pale head, neck, upper breast, and belly
• Pale gray back

Third year:

• Like adult basic but often lacks adult bill pattern

Similar species:

Glaucous Gulls are quite similar to Iceland Gulls but are larger, have larger bills, flatter heads, and, at rest, shorter wingtips that barely project beyond the end of the tail. First-winter Glaucous Gulls have pink-based, not black, bills. Herring Gulls have black wingtips as adults and much darker plumage as immatures. Thayer's Gulls are similar in size and shape but have darker wingtips and eyes as adults and darker, tail bands and flight feathers as immatures. Thayer's also has a slightly bigger bill and its wingtips do not appear as long at rest. Some individuals may not be separable in the field, as Thayer's Gull can be quite pale. Other gulls have darker mantles, wingtips, or tails.

Length and wingspan from: Robbins, C.S., Bruun, B., Zim, H.S., (1966). Birds of North America. New York: Western Publishing Company, Inc.