Iceland Gull ( Greenland )- Seattle

[tmanson]

Hi all: I just read an interesting report on Tweeters about a recently discoverd Iceland Gull in the Seattle area. From the description, it sounds very much like the one found last February at Sardis Pond in Chilliwack, and later, on Vancouver Island, although I realize there was some debate as to whether this was the same bird.
Anyway, it sounds like the Greenland variety, and it has apparently been an annual visitor in the same area for at least 5 years. For some reason, I don't think it has been accepted as an Iceland Gull by the records committee in Washington, some even going so far as to call it a runt Glaucous Gull.
I e-mailed the poster, and asked him to let us know when it leaves, in case it is the same bird that was here last year, and we can start looking for it. The local birders even gave it a nickname- " Bob ".
Bring it on!! Cheers, Thor

Thor Manson
Hope, B.C.

[Gord]

Id be interested to see photos of this bird, especially from last winter. The bird Len found on the coast was very possibly the same bird as here. Interesting information and stuff to think about.

I find the suggestion of it being the Greenland version likable as I was certainly open to the thought that the one we had was possibly one of those.

The runt Glaucous Gull idea is interesting. It might be tempting to say that a rare bird that is a repeat visitor year after year could be a more common sight such as a Glaucous Gull. However, the Slaty-backed Gull in Abbotsford I am convinced is the same bird as last year and there is always Vernon's Lesser Black-backed Gull who has come several years in a row as well (as Thor can attest to ). Both species are well outside their regular range.

Where they go during the summer is certainly interesting and to me, worth placing a satellite transmitter on these repeat visitors.

Thanks for the info, Thor. Look forward to hearing more and of most importance, you being able to view this guy should it indeed pass this way!

[Gord]

I had a look, or thought I was looking, at the Tweeters page but couldnt see where to post. The discussion was certainly interesting about "Bob", and without looking at pictures, sounds similar to a bird that spent a couple months here in Chilliwack. It was a Glaucous Gull but certainly one of the smallest specimens I have ever seen. It is smaller, not by much, but visibly smaller than most of the Glaucous-winged Gull and hybrids. A few approached its size but none were smaller. It is clearly a Glaucous Gull given it's robust look, more blocky head, thick (but shortish) bill and so forth. If not a female, certainly one of the smaller subspecies.









By contrast, here is the Iceland Gull from Sardis Pond. It is much smaller than any Glaucous-winged Gull and hybrid in the pond and among one of the smallest of any Thayer's Gull I've observed both in both body size and delicacy of features. What is interesting is when I saw the above Glaucous Gull I mused that how much smaller and delicate would it have to go to be an Iceland? Upon seeing this guy I immediately realized it was a considerable amount!!







(Dave captured this one)


(From Len)


There is a Glaucous Gull in this photo below too but is a big guy and different than the one pictured above which was being seen at the same time in another location.

[Deleted]

Hi, folks.

I never paid much serious attention to the occasional postings the last few years on Tweeters about "Bob," and I've stopped getting regular Tweeters postings by email, but this is certainly interesting, so I went to the Tweeters site and looked at a few recent messages on this topic.

It appears to me there is no consensus there that "Bob" is an Iceland Gull, although Gene Hunn, one of Washington's well respected veteran birders, thinks it is. After looking at a few photos by Ruth and Patrick Sullivan (links were posted to Tweeters by others), I don't think "Bob" is an Iceland Gull.

I'm not at all sure "Bob" is a Glaucous Gull either, but I tend to agree with those Tweeters birders who think it's possibly a small Glaucous, if it can be identified at all.

I don't think it's the same bird as the Iceland Gull seen in Chilliwack.

But who knows? I've been wrong before, about gulls in particular, and this is the kind of gull that can leave us all very confused.

Stan Olson
Abbotsford

[Gord]

Stan, would love to see the pictures of this guy. Where could I see them?

From what I was able to read, it does not sound promising to be an Iceland Gull given the descriptive words! Certainly has all the ingredients to be a very confusing bird though!

[ryjay]

I can't say I'm an expert on Iceland Gulls, I've never seen one yet(missed it by a day last year!) but I have studied many pictures of Iceland Gulls, and when I saw the picture of "Bob" I knew right away I wouldn't be making any special trips to Seattle in the near future. Like Murray said the question of it being a Glaucous Gull or not is still in question. But Im pretty sure that ain't no Iceland Gull.

Gord the picture was posted on the tweeters list by a birder, I saw it the other day, but I don't know how to get archived posts on there so I couldn't find the link for you. It was a few days ago I think that its posted.

[Deleted]

Gord, here's a link to a group of 5 photos taken Jan 30 and Feb 1 of 2006 by Ruth Sullivan and her late son Patrick, labelled as a Glaucous Gull, but there's no indication from them that this is "Bob." However, a link to the third photo of these 5, showing the gull in flight, was posted by Charlie Wright and referred to as a photo of "Bob," on Tweeters on Jan 7. No one has disputed this.

www.pbase.com/godwit/glaucous_gull_photos

I thought surely someone must have posted other photos of such a well-studied gull.
After several tries I dredged up out of my dim memory my login and pw to Tweeters, and began to check through the archived messages to see if any other photos of "Bob" were posted on Tweeters recently. After wading through hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of messages from this month and last month, finding 8 or 10 messages about "Bob" but no other photos, I gave up. I realized again why I set Tweeters to "no mail." It's a great birding resource, but loads of messages flood your mailbox.

If anyone is interested to just see the most recent few postings on Tweeters, you can go to:
birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/TWET.html
You will notice that only a few days worth of messages appear. Older messages drop off the bottom and can only be viewed in the Tweeters archives, accessible only to Tweeters subscribers who have a login and password.

If anyone wants to subscribe to Tweeters, here's the link:
mailman2.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/tweeters

Stan Olson
Abbotsford

[Deleted]

Hi, folks.

I just had an email from Charlie Wright, who lives near Seattle and has puzzled over this gull, assuming it's the same one, every winter for the last six years. He was looking at Fraser Valley birds and noted that some of us were looking for photos of "Bob." He has kindly sent me links to three different photographers' albums with authorization to distribute them to anyone interested.

www.pbase.com/marvbreece/bob
flickr.com/photos/rjm284/3180503157/
flickr.com/photos/potoo/93736329/in/photostream/

It's helpful to have more photos, but they do show why this gull is a real challenge.

Stan

[Gord]

Wow, If I only saw this photo from www.pbase.com/marvbreece/bob I would say that it's a Glaucous Gull. I refer to the photo "060130 022C.jpg" in the top row. The sloping forehead sure looks pretty good for a Glaucous Gull. The shot with him/her sitting with a Glaucous-winged X and Herring Gull shows a decent sized bird as well and does not suggest to me anything beyond possibly a smaller Glaucous Gull but maybe not really non-typical as it could be a small female. The same goes for the photos of the bird in the group of other gulls. Some shots, especially closeups of the head sure show a smaller bird with a short bill that makes one start from square one again.

Gulls do vary in size. I have observed real bruisers of Herring Gulls but also seen some easily the size of a Thayer's Gull with slightly more delicate of features over the larger Herring Gulls. I assume dimorphism is at play here.

Has there been any discussion on the length the wingtips extend past the tail? This guy looks on the short side. Not something to cinch an ID, but perhaps a supporting detail. The Iceland we had here sure had longer wings and all the photos Ive looked at of same show similar.

Scroll down fourth photo from the bottom which shows a Glaucous and Iceland Gull together.
www.birdsireland.com/pages/rare_bird_news/2005/february_photos.html

Few more shots of Icelands and Kumlien's Gulls.
www.jeaniron.ca/Gulls/htmgulls/index.htm

However, these thoughts are from just looking at photos and the people who have viewed the bird on the ground will have seen much, much more. Also, I am not by any means familiar with Iceland Gulls. All the galleries Ive examined though confirm to me what I feel is a typical Iceland Gull and pretty much exactly what we had here last year.

I wouldnt say that this bird, which I strongly feel is a Glaucous Gull, is typical but may come close to the bird I have pictured above in an earlier post who seemed to be similarly sized and proportioned (judged by photos of Bob among other gulls). In this case when I first saw the bird I was taken aback at how much smaller it seemed and I will admit I allowed the idea of Iceland Gull to dance though my mind briefly. But then a month later I had the defining moment when I saw the Iceland Gull and realized what dainty and smaller meant when it came to these guys.

Gulls are annoying sometimes, but they do make it interesting and worth going back out there!