I put together these photos to show the variation that occurs with this complex here on the west side of Lake Michigan. All of the Iceland Gulls on this page belong to or are assumed to belong to the subspecies Larus glaucoides kumlieni, the Kumlien's Iceland Gull. Adult Kumlien's have varrying amounts of gray in the outer primaries, as can be seen in the photos below. The nominate subspecies of Iceland Gull, Larus glaucoides glaucoides, has not been officially recorded in Illinois and is not to be expected.
All photos were taken with a Questar telescope and a Fujifilm digital camera, a technique known
as digiscoping. See my Digiscoping with a Questar page for details.
Click each thumbnail to see the larger version. Hold your mouse over each to see the age.
Thayer's Gulls
Iceland Gulls
Thayer's/Iceland Gulls*
*This category is for birds that don't fit easily into either the Thayer's or Iceland Gull groups.