Kumlien's Gull (LBRC)

 

Kumlien’s Gull L.g. kumlieni is a vagrant and the first accepted county record was December 18th, 1992 at Apex Pit, North Hykeham when the taxon was still considered by BBRC. Apart from being a county first, it was the only county record falling under BBRC’s jurisdiction before records were devolved to county records committees from January 1st 1999. Since then there have been a further 13 records. Adults were at Apex Pit, North Hykeham in 1999 and Thurlby Pits in 2009, the remainder being 2CY and 3CY birds. The record numbers of Kumlien's Gulls in the county in 2012 may be explained by the record influx of Iceland and Kumlien's Gulls into the northeast Atlantic in 2012. At least 233 Iceland Gulls were reported in Shetland in late January along with a minimum of 17 Kumlien's Gulls. Even more remarkable, it was estimated that there was a minimum of 4,000 Iceland Gulls and 310 Kumlien's Gulls in the Faeroe Islands the focus of the main influx into the northeastern Atlantic.

 

 

Site	First date	Last date	Count	Notes
Apex Pit, North Hykeham	18/12/1992	-	1	Adult
Apex Pit, North Hykeham	16/01/1999	27/01/1999	1	Adult present 16th, 26th and 27th
Bagmoor/Winterton Tips	27/01/2002	-	1	2CY
Gibraltar Point NNR	04/04/2004	-	1	2CY
Thurlby Pit, Bassingham	11/01/2009	-	1	Adult
Gibraltar Point NNR	01/01/2010	08/01/2010	1	2CY seen only 1st and 8th January
Havenside CP, Boston	26/01/2012	-	1	Unaged
Havenside CP, Boston	27/01/2012	-	1	Unaged (different bird from that of 26th)
Pyewipe Marsh, Grimsby	31/01/2012	02/02/2012	1	2CY
Havenside CP, Boston	02/02/2012	03/03/2012	1	Immature; also present 16/03/2012
Frampton Marsh	08/02/2012	16/02/2012	1	Immature, same as Havenside CP of 2nd February onwards
Lea Marsh, Gainsborough	02/01/2013	09/03/2013	1	3CY
Bagmoor/Winterton Floods	18/01/2014	-	1	2CY
Humber Bridge viewing area	03/01/2015	-	1	3CY

  

Kumlien’s Gull at Apex gull roost on December 18th, 1992: first county record.

by Kevin DuRose.

Note: this account appeared in the Lincolnshire Bird Report 1992.  The RC comment in the 1992 report was “With the recent interest in the races of Iceland Gull, including L. g. thayeri, shall we soon see the submission of records of immatures?”. This Lincolnshire record was accepted and published in the RC report for 1995. In that year, there was a remarkable surge of records which, particularly in the case of non-adults, may have something to do with observers scrutinising Iceland Gulls more closely. They also note that the identification of these races can be difficult, and the RC has had considerable difficulty in drawing a line between 'pure' glaucoides types and those showing traces, however subtle, of plumage features suggesting an origin from within the kumlieni/thayeri part of the cline. Assessment of these tricky races is, of course, helped greatly by photographic evidence.

Circumstances

On December 18th I visited the Apex gull roost, where I have been studying gulls for the last ten years. The weather was windy, dull but generally good for observation of gulls (not too bright). As I drove through the gates at the southern end of the pits several hundred gulls were already assembled on the water. At the front of the flock at about 100 m. I noticed a very pale gull, instantly recognisable as an adult Iceland Gull. However, on closer inspection with binoculars (Zeiss dialyt 7x42B) I noticed the bird had charcoal grey markings on the first three or four primaries. I quickly turned my car around and set up my telescope (Bushnell Spacemaster 60mm + Kowa 27 w.a. eyepiece) inside my car, as a heavy shower had started. After about five minutes the rain stopped, and I had very good views of the bird sat on the water with a Herring Gull (all comparisons to Herring Gull refers to L. a. argenteus). Several times the bird would rise on the water with its wings held out almost hanging in the wind, very convenient for viewing the upperwing pattern. I watched the bird from 15.05 hr. until 16.05 hr. when it flew towards the northern end of the pits and was not seen again.

Description

Bill - short and thin based, green at base merging to yellow horn on the tip with a red spot on the gonys.

Eyes - darkish, appeared dark yellow or brown with white crescents above and below; an adjacent Herring Gull clearly showed a pale iris.

Head, neck, and breast - white, with grey/brown streaks, spots and blotches, heaviest on the breast.

Mantle, scapulars, back - all pale grey, slightly paler than adjacent Herring Gull of race argenteus.

Underparts - all pure white.

Legs - only seen when bird hanging in the wind appeared dark pink.

Wings - as Iceland Gull except that the four outermost primaries had charcoal-grey subterminal band extending along the outer web of the feather with white on the extreme tip.

Despite many observers searching over the ensuing two evenings the Kumlien’s Gull did not reappear at the Apex roost and a second winter Mediterranean Gull was small compensation. Regular searching of this gull roost and the adjacent tips and pits over the last ten years has located two Ring-billed Gulls, Iceland, Glaucous and regular Mediterranean Gulls, a Laughing Gull in 1984 and Caspian Tern. This Kumlien’s Gull, the race of Iceland Gull breeding in north-western Canada, is the first such record for Lincolnshire and followed a Ring-billed Gull at the same site in April 1992.