Trying to UN-Seagull Myself

I know, I know they aren't seagulls. Yet when you have a group of birds that are superficially similar, it's difficult to get out of that mentality. Ring-billed Gull, Herring Gull, Great Black-backed Gull are easy enough to separate when those are the three options and they are all in "adult" plummage. When you add in first cycles and second cycles, take out size as a reference, and throw in a couple of other species that can show up during this time of year and the lines get a little muddled. So, Here's a couple pictures to help clear a few things up. This is definitely not complete but rather one mornings find.

Over the wire came the mention of a first cycle Iceland Gull at the Oyster River... (that means at the beach where to Oyster River meets the sound on the Milford- West Haven line to most people). I made an early morning trip down to the beach, book in hand, with no real hope of being able to spot the gull. I quickly glanced at the book and got the general impression the overall color was lighter. Glancing through the individuals present, one seemed 'different' and a bit lighter.. back to the book to look a the color of the primaries. Sure enough, Iceland Gulls had white primaries. Amazingly the gull was on the little patch of beach only about 20 feet away from me. AND I was able to identify it.



Other features to look at are bill color and leg color


A Ring-billed Gull in it's first winter: features to observe are the gray on the wings, pink bill, and pinkish legs.


This Herring Gull is a second winter, the slight gray coloring in the wings, the majority of the bill is pink (not mostly black) and it also has pinkish legs.


Practice is the best way to begin to see the little differences. I'm on a quest to additional pictures of a Herring Gull in it's first winter and a Great Black-backed immature. Who knows maybe I'll stumble across another species or two along the way.