Thanks to Glenn Walbek for his exegesis on the fine points of Iceland and Glaucous Gull ID. As he pointed out, they differ in "jizz." *
Most Glaucous Gulls have a "fierce" look, with a large, flat head and big bill. Iceland Gulls tend to have a "gentle" look, with a more rounded head and smaller bill. (Almost dove-like). This mnemonic has helped me remember the difference in jizz: "The Iceland is the *nice one*. The Glaucous is *the hawkest."* I read that in a supplementary ID guide a long time ago, but can't remember the title or author. Glenn described that gentle look: Kumlien's Iceland gull has a delicate face and bill. This short video shows the species side by side. https://www.bto.org/about-birds/bird-id/eye-iceland-and-glaucous-gulls One of the reasons for confusion at Cherry Creek is that the Glaucous Gull there is *not typical* for that species, but, as Glenn states: "...is smallish, with a smallish head and bill." So it's not as fierce or mean-looking as your usual Glaucous. (Different subspecies, Glenn pointed out). Joe Roller, Denver Derivation of the birding term *jizz*, from Wikipedia. * Jizz: There is a theory that it comes from the World War II <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II> air force <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_force> acronym GISS for "General Impression of Size and Shape (of an aircraft)", but the birding term was first recorded earlier than that in 1922.[7] <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jizz_(birding)#cite_note-7> More likely, jizz is a corruption of gestalt <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/gestalt>, a German word that roughly means form or shape.[8] <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jizz_(birding)#cite_note-8> Other possibilities include the word *gist*, or a contraction of *just is*. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/CAJpZcUC64gaWr0%2BMDeqzHd-J%2B_sf4Krt00%3Dh3ZbGhn_zc9V4sg%40mail.gmail.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
