Adult Iceland Gull in Hvannasund

Time flies and it’s already weekend once again. And that means no work at the fish factories and less gulls to watch. I attended a family birthday in the morning and then I went to check the northern islands.

Even head shape is variable on those gulls...

In Klaksvík there were about 40 Iceland Gulls including two Kumlien’s Gull. In Hvannasund there were only about 25 birds left and two of them were Kumlien’s Gulls. The rather dark bird from yesterday had gone. There is a serious turn over of birds – there are new birds arriving all the time. But often they just stay for a day, then they’re gone.

A nice Kumlien's Gull - Klaksvík

At Viðareiði the long staying Bean Goose was still present. It has joined a flock of domestic geese, so it looks rather content and happy. But otherwise there isn’t much to report. But they promise more windy conditions during the week, so there might come some new birds in.

Bean Goose - Viðareiði

One of those 4. winter birds that I really struggle with. Clearly the outer primaries are darker than the inner primaries. But the greater primary coverts have the same colour as the primaries. So it is hard to say for sure that the colour on the primaries does indicate ssp. kumlieni, when the colour on the greater primary coverts obviously do not. Inputs are most welcome. Should we label all these birds ssp. kumlieni?

SiO

4. winter Kumlien's Gull - Klaksvík

A grey and wet day. But it is not always bad. When the sun shines it really is difficult to get accurate colours on both photos and in real life – so once again I went out gulling.

Agile Iceland Gull

In Klaksvík there were about 70 Iceland Gulls including 4 Kumlien’s Gulls, but the well-marked bird from yesterday was gone.

Adult Kumlien's Gull - Klaksvík

I then went to Hvannasund. There were 72 Iceland Gulls including 4 Kumlien’s Gulls – and a new and nice dark 4. winter bird was present.

Well-marked 4.winter Kumlien's Gull - Hvannasund

Rodmund found a further 100 Iceland Gulls in Sørvágur including a very dark 2. winter bird. This is the duracell-invasion – it just keeps going…

SiO

A beautiful day - Toftavatn

This morning was just beautiful. Clear skies, freezing temperatures and new snow. It doesn’t get much better. In this dark time of year the snow really brightens up things. Finally a day where you don’t have to use ISO 100.000.000 x 1466²³ when you take photos.
But it’s not only the landscape that is dressed in white – there is still a white-winged gull-invasion going on. So I decided to try to get some decent photos of the dark gull in Runavík. First I went to the local bakery and got some bread and then I went to Runavík. The sun was shining but the gull did not come in spite of the bread – but about 40 Iceland Gulls including 3 Kumlien’s Gulls came. So it was a nice.

I then checked Toftir were I found another 14 Iceland Gulls and zero Kumlien’s Gull. I then headed to Toftavatn where I found 31 Iceland Gulls including 4 Kumlien’s Gull – but the dark gull was not to be found.

Eiði

I decided to go to Eiði. There I found another 31 Iceland Gulls, but only one Kumlien’s Gull. Slavonian grebe, Common Goldeneye and 3 Great Northern Divers were a nice addition to the gulls.

Gulls in Klaksvík - click to enlarge

Then I went to Leirvík, where I found 12 Iceland Gulls including one adult Kumlien’s Gull. Then I went home to Klaksvík. And ironically the best bird of the day was just a few hundred meters from home – a nice well-marked adult Kumlien’s Gull. The number of Iceland Gulls had increased to about 100 and there were 5 Kumlien’s Gull, but at least two were “old” birds.

Well-marked Kumlien's Gull - Runavík

3. winter Kumlien's Gull with minimal markings - Runavík

Just an interesting photo...

Glaucous Gull

Glaucous Gull portrait

Iceland Gulls, Kumlien's Gull and Herring Gulls - Leirvík.

Kumlien’s Gull tend to have a slightly darker mantle colour than Iceland Gulls. This photo shows an adult Iceland Gull (the very pale bird) and an adult Kumlien’s Gull in the back. All the birds are exposed to the same light and it is evident, that the Iceland Gull is much paler than the Herring Gulls and that the Kumlien’s Gull lies somewhere in between, but surely closer to Iceland Gull than to Herring Gull.

Here is the *star* bird of today - a well-marked Kumlien's Gull along with an Iceland Gull and a Herring Gull. This picture is taken in the fading light in the afternoon and it is harder see much of a difference in the mantle colour.

There are still some other birds than gulls on the Faroes - Purple Sandpiper at Eiði.

SiO

The older the easier - that is the truth about Kumlien's Gull identification - or that is not always that simple.

As stated by many people already it is less than ideal that we’re sitting on the Faroes, Scotland, Nederlands, Denmark, Great Britain and other countries in Western Europe trying to determine what is an Iceland Gull and what is a Kumlien’s Gull. This job should be done within their normal range, so that we can say things with a little more certainty.

I’ll write a post on first winter birds later, but the biggest challenge this year are all the highly variable 2. winter birds around (maybe up to 50 % of the total number of birds).  In a previous post I have mentioned the importance of the approach to Kumlien’s Gulls, when it comes to id:

1) If Kumlien’s Gull is a full species then we have to deal with “classic” Kumlien’s Gulls and putative hybrids – kumlien’s x thayer’s and kumlien’s x glaucoides not to mention second generation hybrids!

2) If Kumlien’s Gull is a hybrid swarm between Thayer’s Gull and Iceland Gull then every bird showing the slightest tendencies to some kumlieni-features would be a Kumlien’s Gull (0,000001% Kumlien’s genes).

3) If Kumlien’s Gull is a subspecies that occurred by Thayer’s x Iceland Gull interbreeding but now is more or less isolated from both, you have to define the characteristics for the subspecies in contrast to other subspecies.

I’ll go for the third position. And that leaves us with a challenge to define kumlieni in contrast to glaucoides and thayeri. And this should be done within the species normal range rather than here on the Faroes.
But let’s have a look at in anyways. First we need to know if there is any variation within pure ssp. glaucoide and kumlieni. There is variation within all these subspecies. There are both pale and dark immature Iceland Gulls and Kumlien’s Gull.
Peter Adriaens startes: Many of the immature Iceland Gulls that have brown markings on the primaries, as often seen in Iceland and now also in the Faroes and other places in Europe, actually do not look like the birds typically seen in Newfoundland in winter, and are therefore most likely just ‘brown-winged’ glaucoides.

The easiest way to go about this probably to post some pictures and comment.

Photo taken by Peter Adriaens in Iceland april 2010. He says: "I believe it is 'just' a dark-winged glaucoides, as I did not see any 2nd-cycle Kumlien's Gulls with this type of primary pattern when I visited Newfoundland. The outermost primaries are just too pale, which makes no sense in combination with those extensive brown streaks on central primaries.

So this bird shows that 2. winter Iceland Gulls can be very dark over all and can show a significant tail band. furthermore it has a dark iris. This is quite a contrast to the pale 2. winter Iceland Gulls – see below.

Pale 2. winter Iceland Gull with pale iris.

So let’s say that this represents the variation of 2. winter Iceland Gulls – you can even find even darker and even paler birds. This shows that every bird has to be judged by its overall colouration. Dark birds have to show  even darker and contrasting primaries in order to be safely labeled ssp. kumlieni while pale birds might show less dark primaries – but as long as there is clear contrast within the inner and outer primaries I would call it a Kumlien’s Gull.

A dark bird but note the contrast between the inner and outer primaries and the dark edge made by the primary tips. It is refered to as the J-shape on the outer 4 or 5 primaries formed by the pale inner webs, dark outer webs and dark tip - I would call this one a good Kumlien's Gull - photo taken in Klaksvík.

A medium dark Iceland Gull with too few markings on the primaries to be anything other than an Iceland Gull.

A rather dark individual with dark primary tips and slightly darker outer webs on the primaries. But note that there is no contrast between inner and outer primaries. The pattern is thus wrong for Kumlien's Gull. So I'd say it's better labeled as a brown Iceland Gull.

Same bird as above. On the water it looks like a Kumlien's Gull. But even in this position the primaries are not strikingly dark.

A typical Kumlien's Gull. Note the j-pattern and the contrast between inner and outer primaries.

Same bird as above. Note how strikingly dark the primaries are.

A tricky pale bird. This bird really makes it obvious that all birds have to be assesed by their over all colouration and the contrasts rather than the mere colour on the primaries. Note the obvious contrast in the primaries. So I'd say that this one is in deed a pale Kumlien's Gull.

P6 to p10 have slightly darker outer webs and there thus is a ghostly formed J-pattern. So the form of this pattern looks good for a very pale Kumlien's Gull.

This bird also shows dark outer webs on the primaries but it is on all the primaries and does not look good for Kumlien's Gull due to the lack of contrast between inner and outer primaries.

Again there is a faint ghostly J-pattern on the primaries, so it could be yet another pale Kumlien's Gull.

But then the question is why we do get these birds that do in deed look like pale Kumlien’s Gulls when they are not seen in numbers in New Foundland in winter? Are these in fact pure glaucoides, which are impossible to discern from pale Kumlien’s Gulls? Or is there a true intermediate population somewhere between Baffin Island and Greeland? Or has this anything to do with the undescribed taxon of large gull in northern Russia (Novaya Zemlya and Cape Zhuralev – see note on page 215-216 in Gulls by Olsen and Larsson)…

SiO

Still a lot of white-wingers around - click to enlarge!

I went out to find a female Pine Bunting. But I couldn’t find any. I checked all the Yellowhammer flocks (which means zero birds). Not even a Robin… so I ended up watching gulls once again. But I could really use a good bunting or a thrush or something for a change.

Blue skies and snow - It was a cold day today. The bird shows slightly darker p10 and p9 - but not enough for a safe kumlieni-id. In other angles the dark was not visible.

The white-winged invasion continues. In Hvannasund there were about 50 Iceland Gulls including 7 Kumlien’s Gull. I had only seen one of the Kumlien’s Gulls before so many of the old birds have departed.

Adult Iceland Gull

In Klaksvík there were still about 70 birds present including 5 Kumlien’s Gulls. The challenge is not to get two Iceland Gulls on the same picture but to get two or three Kumlien’s Gulls on the same shot – but that didn’t happen today.

2. winter Kumlien's Gull - note the contrast on the primaries - Hvannasund.

First winter Kumlien's Gull - a very confident bird - Klaksvík.

3. winter Kumlien's Gull - Klaksvík

3. winter Iceland Gull - Klaksvík

SiO

Iceland Gulls and a Kumlien's Gull - Tórshavn

Today I had some work to do in Tórshavn. When I was finished I went out birding. In Tórshavn there were 81 Iceland Gulls including 4 Kumlien’s Gulls. The Bonaparte’s Gull was not seen.

3. winter Kumlien's Gull - Tórshavn

I Kollafirði there were about 65 Iceland Gulls including 5 Kumlien’s Gulls. One of them was very interesting and its black primary patch was obvious from a distance. See the pics below.

Nice well-marked adult Kumlien's Gull

Is there something wrong?

Yes, there is something wrong

Identifying Kumlien's Gulls might be hard - this one has only one dark spot on one wing which by the way is wrongly placed. I'm glad I got good views of this bird as it is just oil!

In Hvalvík there were 17 Iceland Gulls and 5 were in Skálabotn. I decided to go to look for the dark kumliens/thayer’s type in Runavík. And this time is was almost too easy. It was standing on the quay when I came, but soon it took off. I tried the bread-method and this time it came right away. It was very easy to spot in the middle of about 100 Herring Gulls and 60 Iceland Gulls (4 Kumlien’s). It gave tremendous views down to a few meters. But it was really dark and cloudy, so the image quality is the not the best.

The dark gull from Runavík

The dark gull from Runavík

The dark gull from Runavík

In Klaksvík there were another 70 Iceland Gulls and Rodmund has seen about 60 today in Sørvágur. Surely new birds have arrived! So todays total is:
Tórshavn 81 (4 kumlieni), Kollafirði 65 (5 kumlieni), Hvalvík 17, Skálabotn 5, Runavík 60, Klaksvík 70, Sørvágur 60 – all in all 358 birds were seen today by two observers. So this is the day with the most birds so far during this invasion.

Well-marked 3. winter Kumlien's Gull - Kollafjørður

2. winter brown bird - proably Kumlien's Gull this one due to contrast in the primaries - Kollafjørður.

Janus Hansen has made a collage which tells the story on the last days in the live of an Iceland Gull. He has been kind enough to allow me to post it.

Photos by Janus Hansen

SiO

Iceland Gulls love bread!

Sunday is the worst day for gulling, so I just checked the harbour from home today. Only 19 Iceland Gulls present – but they’ll be back tomorrow when the fish factory opens.

The 2. winter birds have puzzled many observers including myself during this invasion. Not only the number of 2. winter birds is stunning, but they also provide an identification challenge. Peter Adriaens puts it this way:
Many of the immature Iceland Gulls that have brown markings on the primaries, as often seen in Iceland and now also in the Faroes and other places in Europe, actually do not look like the birds typically seen in Newfoundland in winter, and are therefore most likely just ‘brown-winged’ glaucoides.

Big and heavy this bird is (Master Yoda-grammar) - a brown 2. winter Iceland Gull that was 1/3 bigger than the smallest Iceland Gulls.

I must say that this invasion has taught me quite a deal due to the sheer numbers of birds present – the whole spectrum of Iceland Gulls from the palest to the darkest seem to be represented. And maybe too many of these weird dark brown birds have been labeled kumlieni wrongly?

2. winter Kumlien's Gull - Hvannasund. Note the contrast between the inner and outer primaries.

At least we have a lot of birds with a brownish wash to them. But they need more than that to be Kumlien’s Gulls – there needs to be contrast between the inner and outher primaries. Maybe I’ll elaborate on that issue later. But it is not only the 2. winters that have this brown colours on the primaries. Even 3. and 4. winters can show it. And now it gets tricky, for this brownish colour could easily been seen as “kumlieni” markings on these birds. I’ll post some pics and write a few comments.

3. winter Kumlien's Gull. Note that the greater primary coverts are brown, but the outer primaries are significantly darker.

3. winter probable Iceland Gull. Note that the greater primary coverts are as brown as the outer primaries. As adult Kumlien's Gulls do not have any dark markings on the greater primary coverts the brownish colour on the primaries could be age related rather than indicating ssp. kumlieni.

A 4. winter with slightly darker p8 and p9 than the rest of the primaries. But again the greater primary coverts show the same slight darker colours. So again I'd say that the colour is age related rather than indicating ssp. kumlieni.

Retarded 3. winter. This bird is either a nightmare or every gullers dream. The moulting has gone out of hand with new and old feathers side by side. I would love to see this one as an adult.

4. winter (+) that shows some irregular brown colours on the greater primary coverts. p9 and p10 look a little bit darker than the other primaries. But I wouldn't call this one a Kumlien's Gull.

An adult Kumlien's Gull with solid but minimal markings on p10 and p9.

4. winter with obvious brown markings on p9 and p10. But the greater primary coverts also have this brown colours, so it could be age related rather than indication ssp. kumlieni - but admittedly the brownish colours are rather extensive.

SiO

A beautiful morning in Klaksvík

Yesterday I checked Hvannasund: 46 Iceland Gulls including 9 Kumlien’s Gull. I also checked Klaksvík, where there were about 100 Iceland Gulls and 5 Kumlien’s Gulls. I even managed to get a photo of a 1. winter, 2. winter and a 3.winter Kumlien’s Gull together. Times are in deed exceptional at the moment.

Not so easy to see, but there is 1w, 2w and 3w Kumlien’s Gulls on the picture

In the afternoon Rockmund called me. He had found a putative adult Thayer’s Gull in Runavík. It was already dark, so I couldn’t twitch it.

This morning our oldest daughter and I went to Runavík in order to connect with the bird. When we came to Runavík the harbour was almost empty – 9 Iceland Gulls and a few Glaucous Gulls – yes, that is an empty harbour these days!

But then I felt the force – the advise of the jedi-birders of Shetland: Use bread! (Ok, I’m currently watching “The Empire Strikes Back”). I had brought some bread with me and as soon as I threw it out the gulls came. And it didn’t take more then 5 minutes before a truly stunning “white-winged gull”-type with black markings on the primaries appeared as the sun broke through the clouds.

Silja, it's over here - RUN!

Yes, eventually she got to see it!

It gave really good views as it was standing with some other gulls, but I never got really good flight shots. As soon as the bread was eaten the gulls disappeared. During the weekends there’s no food for the gulls at the fish factories so they tend to disperse.

I went to the local bakery and got my self a sack of bread – if the dark gull was an american it would be attracted to this much food. So I started throwing out bread. But soon it became evident that it was a wee bit overkill. It was easy enough to locate the bird when there were  50 gulls in the harbour, but soon there were about 300 Herring Gulls and 80 Iceland Gulls feasting on the bread.

A lot of bread

I found four different adult Kumlien’s Gulls but the dark bird was nowhere to be found. I don’t think that it just blended in with all the Herring, Iceland, Kumlien’s, Common and Greater Black-backed Gulls. It was probably disturbed by all the activity and had gone.

But I stayed in the harbour for another two hours watching all the gulls feasting on the bread. Then I went to Toftavatn – 11 Iceland Gulls, several Herring Gulls and the dark gull were roosting there. At Toftavatn the birds are quite far off and pretty soon after arrival the bird took of. I checked the harbour once more, but I couldn’t relocate the bird. On the way home I checked Leirvík where 14 Iceland Gulls were present, but no Kumlien’s Gulls.

Normally the challenge is to distinguish between pale Kumlien’s Gulls and dark Iceland Gulls. Todays bird provides us with the challenge to distinguish between a dark Kumlien’s Gull and a Thayer’s Gull. I’ve never seen an accepted Thayer’s Gull before, so I have no experience with the species. So you are most welcome to comment on this bird – but I’ll give a few comments under the pics.

Primaries were solid black, the bird was heavy and rough to look at. The legs were saturated pinkish-red. The iris was rather pale. The colour of the back was a bit darker than that of glaucoides Iceland Gulls.

A terrible shot of the upperwing. There are no black markings on p5.

Wing from below. The black markings on p9 are very narrow and there is no black tip on p10. Furthermore the shape of the black markings on p6 look rather weird.

The white area on p9 is large. Though the black on p6 has weird form it is rather extensive.

The mantle colour varies a lot depending on the light - here the sun was gone and the colours might be more accurate.

As mentioned I’m no expert on Thayer’s vs dark Kumlien’s Gull. But according to Gulls of Europe, Asia and North America (Olsen and Larsson 2003) this is not a classic Thayer’s Gull.

The mantle colour should be darker.

The iris should be darker (10% do show pale iris).

The dark markings on p9 should be more extensive.

P10 should show dark tip (but I kind of feel that this is like looking for the pale egde on a Palla’s Gropper or the primary projection on a Pechora Pipit – it is almost impossible to see in the field).

Most often Thayer’s Gull has dark markings on p5.

If the above mentioned things were spot on we would have a classic Thayer’s Gull. The question now remains. Is this a Thayer’s Gull in the pale end of the scale or is it a Kumlien’s Gull in the dark end of the scale?

And could a non-classic bird ever be excepted anyway?

SiO

Identifying white-winged gulls can be confusing

The current Iceland Gull invasion has given us a unique opportunity to study the variation of both Iceland and Kumlien’s Gulls. Admittedly we cannot know for sure where the different birds originate when they are seen outside their normal range. That does complicate things when it comes to proper identification.

I’ve wanted to write something about identification of Kumlien’s Gulls. But I have to do it in small bits – I do not have the time with all the birds just outside the window.

How do you define kumlieni vs glaucoides? - picture taken in Klaksvík yesterday

The question of identifying Kumlien’s Gulls starts with philosophy – or at least one must define “Kumlien’s Gull”. Some authors treat the taxon as a subspecies of Iceland Gull, a few as a valid species in its own right, and according to others it is a population of hybrids (a so-called hybrid swarm) produced by interbreeding between Thayer’s and Iceland Gulls.

1) If you go for the first position you have to define the characteristics for the subspecies in contrast to other subspecies. And this definition could be as simple as “everything that does not look like a classic glaucoides or thayeri” is a kumlieni. The weakness about this approach is that it does not take into account the possible variation of pure ssp. glaucoides and ssp. thayeri. It has for instance been stated that some pure ssp. glaucoides in 1. to 3. winter can show fain markings on the primaries – otherwise one of the best clues to identifying kumlieni.

2) If you go for the “full species” position you have to define a pure L. kumlieni. And then naturally a hybrid between a thayeri and a glaucoides would not be a Kumlien’s Gull, and a hybrid between a glaucoides and a kumlieni would not be a kumlieni. This leaves us the a species that can be most tricky to identify in the field. In practical terms it would probably be like Lesser and Mealy Redpolls – you have some classic individuals that can be identified but you will have a lot birds that cannot be identified for sure outside their normal range.

3) If you go for the hybrid swarm theory  (Kumlien’s Gull is a result of interbreeding between Thayer’s and Iceland Gulls), then you can call everything that displays anything between the range of a classic glaucoides to a classic thayeri a Kumlien’s Gull. The term Kumlien’s Gull is then nothing more than a “Viking’s Gull” (Glaucous x Herring Gull) or an Olympic Gull” (Glaucous-winged x Western Gull). You could argue that the faintest markings on the primaries do indicate that there is 0,5% (or whatever) hybrid genes in the bird and thus making it a Kumlien’s Gull.

And the putative Kumlien’s Gulls that turn up in Europe typically are these very pale (sometimes almost indiscernable) birds – just have a look at the danish and swedish birds during this invasion.

I think this is enough for now… So I might just end with a song by Coldplay: Nobody said it was easy

Nobody said it was easy
No one ever said it would be this hard
Oh take me back to the start
I was just guessing at numbers and figures
Pulling the puzzles apart
Questions of science, science and progress
Do not speak as loud as my heart

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1oGdH5B_HEI&feature=youtube_gdata

Now it's time to check some birds - click to enlarge

SiO

Very good numbers of Iceland Gulls in Klaksvík

The storm is over and this morning the sun was shining and the gulls were flying outside the window. I headed out on my normal route. Same stunning numbers as yesterday were present in Klaksvík – about 150 birds. But it is really hard to get an accurate number. The birds move over a distance of about 4 km between the northern harbour, the fish factory and the beach. I counted 114 Iceland Gulls simultaneously around the fish factory knowing that another ground was at the northern harbour and yet another was at the beach. So 150 Iceland Gulls in Klaksvík today is a conservative estimate!

A few monsters aka Glaucous Gulls are also around!

Most gulls were the same as yesterday probably, but I found at least 9 Kumlien’s Gulls and two dark individuals were surely new. There are quite a lot of birds that have faint markings, but it is written on birdingfrontiers, that glaucoides can show faint markings. So when I mention numbers of Kumlien’s Gulls on the blog I refer to pretty obvious Kumlien’s Gulls that are somewhat straight forward to identify.

Dark straight forward 3. winter Kumlien's Gulls - Klaksvík

I also checked Hvannasund and about 50 birds were present there including 7 Kumlien’s Gulls. And again at least two were surely new dark birds that I haven’t seen before. One of them was a true dream bird – a solid dark 4. winter – finally!

Finally one of these stunning and nice dark "beyond any doubt" 4. winter Kumlien's Gulls - Hvannasund

Interestingly enough 14 of the birds in Hvannasund were first winter-birds. It has been quite a mystery why 40 to 50 % have been second winter and the number of first winter birds has been so low. One part of the explanation could be the breeding success in 2010 and 2011, but with these new first winters arriving it doesn’t look like the breeding season of 2011 has been a total disaster for the Iceland Gulls.

A nice dark 2. winter Kumlien's Gull

Same as above - Hvannasund

Rodmund tried to relocate the dark Herring Gull from yesterday, but most of the gulls in Sørvágur had departed and only about 15 Iceland Gulls were present today. I’ve received a few comments about the bird and they all pretty much state the same. It looks very interesting and some features seem to suggest that it could be a smithsonianus, but the images are too poor to say anything conclusive.

3. winter Kumlien's Gull - Hvannasund

2. winter Kumlien's Gull - Klaksvík

Adult Kumlien's Gull with minimal but solid dark markings - Klaksvík

Adult Kumlien's Gull with faint ghostly markings - Klaksvík

Two pale adult Kumlien's Gulls - Klaksvík

More distinctively marked 3. winter Kumlien's Gull feasting on fish waste - Klaksvík

Pale bird that could be both kumlieni and glaucoides - a rather rare plumage.

Large rather dark bird that could be both kumlieni and glaucoides

Another 2. winter that's hard to nail

And as the Herring Gulls are in focus here comes a dark one - Hvannasund

And a pale one - Hvannasund

SiO