Glaucous-winged Gull in St. Louis County
2011-12-22

'Accidental' in Minnesota - Five or fewer records in St. Louis County for the Winter season

Beginning at 9:43 this morning, I have been studying an apparent adult Glaucous-winged Gull at Canal Park, Duluth, St. Louis County. I say apparent because of the many complications inherent in identifying large gulls, especially this species. Since Glaucous-winged Gull forms hybrid swarms with multiple other species of gulls (including Glaucous, Western and Herring), where the majority of some local populations are actually hybrids, great must be taken when identifying this species out of range. For now I have posted a single photo on MOU recently seen, but will include a more in depth analysis on my pbase gull pages (www.pbase.com/karlbardon). Note the dark iris, blurry head streaking with very fine barring, large bill, gray markings in the outer primaries similar in color to the remainder of the wing. When perched, this bird had short primary projection, bulky/stocky overall body size, and a mantle shade very slightly darker than adjacent adult Herring Gulls.

Karl J. Bardon