Kumlien's Gull - 24 Feb 2023

I made a late afternoon run to Crosswinds Marsh to look for gulls. The late afternoon Sun slightly backlit the gull flock on the main pond at Crosswinds but I still managed to spot a suspected Kumlien's Iceland Gull (Larus glaucoides kumlieni) swimming among a group of smaller Ring-billed Gulls.

Of note was the size, of course, but the pale-gray primaries contrasted with the black primaries of nearby Ring-billed and Herring Gulls. The presence of pale windows suggested Thayer's Gull, but the eyes were yellow, so leaned back toward the Kumlien's. 

Luckily, Corey at 10,000 Birds has a nice writeup on the Iceland/Kumlien's/Thayer's conundrum, and present consensus is that they are all lumped under Iceland Gull. Either way, it was nice to get some long-distance images of the bird and learn a bit more about the Larus glaucoides complex...

Swarovski STX85, 25-60X eyepiece at 60X, Sony a9, Sony 40mm f/2.5. Focus-peaking and Sony RMT-P1BT Remote. EFL~2400mm.