Birding Alaska

Glaucous-winged Gull Larus glaucescens is the default large gull in most of southern Alaska.  It hybridizes frequently with Herring Gull on the Kenai Peninsula and in the Anchorage area and offspring of these pairings create difficulties for birders.

Adult Glaucous-winged Gull Larus glaucescens, Hartney Bay, Cordova, 4 May 2005.

Adult Glaucous-winged Gull, Bering Sea, 29 July 2009.

Note the uniformly light gray mantle and primary tips, dark eye, and shortish wings.  The bill is tapered with a narrower base expanding to be slightly thicker at the gonys (which is identified by the red spot on the bill).

First cycle Glaucous-winged Gull, Cordova, 30 December 2005.

On this first cycle bird note the bill shape–narrower at the base expanding to a relatively wide gonydeal angle.  On the other end of the same bird note the dingy gray-brown primaries that are of uniform darkness with the tertials and wing coverts.