Iceland Gull at the Forks of the Delaware ~ January 22, 2024

With the continuing days of below-freezing weather, I went down to the "Forks of the Delaware" in Easton to see how iced-up the Lehigh and Delaware Rivers were. Both rivers were roughly half-frozen and there were a congregation of gulls on the ice above the dam on the Lehigh. I scanned through about 200 Ring-billed Gulls and smaller numbers of Lesser Black-backed and Herring Gulls and spotted an adult Iceland Gull! This one was an individual with fairly dark eyes and very extensive charcoal-gray markings on the wingtips. The eyes and wingtip pattern brought up the possibility of the involvement of some "Thayer's" genes, but it best fit the darkest form of a "Kumlien's" Iceland Gull.

A very dark form of "Kumlien's" Iceland Gull.

I also did a double-take when I came across what seemed to be an American Herring Gull with no black in the wingtips, making it appear at first glance to be one of the "white-winged gulls".

An American Herring Gull with almost no visible dark wingtips.

I eventually discovered that it was indeed an American Herring Gull. The last three outer primaries were just growing in, so the dark markings were not visible at all on the left wing and there were only a few markings on the right wing.

An American Herring Gull with almost no visible dark wingtips. Note the three very short primaries just coming in at the top of the wing.

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