Thayer's Gulls can be a tough species to identify. Some consider Thayer's Gulls and Iceland Gulls to be the same species, with the darker Thayer's in the western part of the continent, grading to lighter Iceland Gulls in the eastern part. While I'm sure the guy in the photos below is at minimum a Thayer's hybrid, I'm not 100% sure it's a pure Thayer's. Thayer's do often commonly interbreed with some other species, including Western Gulls and Glaucous-winged Gulls . Most people who have seen this bird do call it a Thayer's, but a few folks have called it a "Kumlien's Gull", which is an intergrade between Thayer's and Iceland. *NOTE - In 2017 the Thayer's Gull was designated to be a sub-species of the Iceland Gull.
All photos are copyrighted by Terry L. Sohl. Contact me for print options or questions about photo use.
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