First cycle Iceland (Kumlien's) Gull

Yesterday I went to Hoskinson's Sandpit in Hutchinson.  Upon arriving, one of the first gulls I identified was an adult Lesser Black-backed!  Over the next hour there was a constant stream of gulls coming from the landfill including a couple adult Thayer's.  I also had a Killdeer, which is the earliest I have ever had one.  During the last fifteen minutes that I could be there, I looked up and to my surprise saw a very pale gull flying over!  I quickly put my binoculars on it and saw right away that it was either a very pale Thayer's or a Iceland(Kumlien's).  I frantically took several pictures before it started to circle higher and higher.  I quickly called Bryant, who was at piano lessons in town, but it disappeared out of sight about two minutes before he got there.  We rushed over to the landfill, which was in the direction it had disappeared.  When we got there we scanned the sky, hoping to catch a glimpse of the gull.  We were beginning to despair when Bryant yelled," There it is!"  Sure enough, there it was, circling high over head.  It disappeared out of sight about a minute later.  When we got home we looked over our pictures, but we were not sure enough to call it a Kumlien's.  So we sent it to Jon King, the ebird reviewer, and he agreed that it is a Kumlien's!  This is about the fifteenth record for Kansas of an Iceland Gull.

Iceland(Kumlien's) Gull

Iceland(Kumlien's) Gull

Andrew