While gull watching in Duluth today, I encountered a bewildering number of Iceland and Thayer’s Gulls: no fewer than 33 different individual Iceland and Thayer's Gulls were seen! This total includes 23 Thayer's Gulls (7 adults, 3 third-cycles, 3 second-cycles, and 10 first-cycles), at least 8 birds showing strong features of Iceland Gull (5 adults, 1 fourth-cycle, 1 second-cycle, and 1 first-cycle), plus both an adult and a second-cycle Iceland/Thayer's Gull intergrade/hybrid (some authorities consider these two species to be conspecific, and many do not agree on the characteristics necessary to identify them- as expected for a mid-continent location, many of the Iceland and Thayer’s Gulls observed in Duluth show potential introgression). In any case, these are record high counts for these two species in Minnesota. Most of this count was accomplished by analyzing photographs taken of each individual (for example, although I only saw a maximum of 3 first-cycle Thayer’s Gulls at one time, I have photographs of 10 different first-cycle birds taken today). Also observed in Duluth today were 3 Great Black-backed Gulls (both a first-cycle and a second-cycle bird seen at both the Superior Entry and at Canal Park, plus one adult seen by Peder Svingen at Canal Park), a first-cycle Lesser Black-backed Gull (at the Superior Entry), at least 6 Glaucous Gulls, only 2 Ring-billed Gulls, and over 1500 Herring Gulls. Karl Bardon Duluth, MN
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