The "Whitest" Glaucous Gull - 20 Mar 2026

 

Clouds and some rain moved in last evening but today was supposed to hit 65ºF, so I took the opportunity to ride the bike at Pt. Mouillee this morning. Temperature was 40ºF when I left the house a little after 8 am and some rain was expected.

A car was fully engulfed in flames on I-75 N as I got off at the S. Huron River Drive exit. Otherwise the drive to the Mouillee Creek parking lot was uneventful. I unloaded the bike and headed out onto the Middle Causeway east toward the Banana Unit. Surprisingly, waterfowl were absent or distant in the Walpatich, Lautenschlager, Bloody Run, Long Pond and Humphries Units. Hundreds of Gadwall, Northern Shoveler, American Wigeon, American Coot, Mute Swan, Ring-necked Duck and Mallard were in the Vermet Unit but lighting/distance discouraged any stopping. I actually made it to the Banana Unit and south to Cells 1 - 2 east to Lake Erie before the camera ever saw any action.

Lake Erie was not as rough as in the past few days, but there was a chop on the water. Wind was blowing 10-15 mph from the south but the mild air made it tolerable. As I rode north along the Lake Erie shoreline the first of many Horned Grebes appeared far out on the water.


A pair of Northern Harriers popped out of the phragmites in Cell 3 and drifted south past me. One looked to be an immature bird, 




while the 2nd looked to be an adult female (note the streaking on the chest).


Just ahead on the shoreline was the WHITEST gull I had ever seen! Glaucous Gull (Larus hyperboreus) based on its size relative to nearby American Herring and Ring-billed Gulls. The black-tipped pink bill put it at either a 1st-winter or 2nd-winter bird, but the dark eye makes me lean toward 1st-winter (2nd-winter birds have the pale yellow eye already).


Below is an image of a typical 1st-winter Glaucous Gull (image courtesy of Cornell's Birds of the World); white with brown mottling on chest, belly and wings.


This morning's bird showed pure white feathers everywhere! Absolute stunner!




The Glaucous Gull flew out over the lake but circled back a bit north of its original position and landed on a shallow sand bar next to shore.










I left the bike and walked along the dike to get closer looks but made sure to get a few pics of a nearby raft of Bufflehead.


Adult American Herring Gull still retaining a few winter fleks in its otherwise pure-white head.


The Glaucous Gull posed nicely in the shallow water





The bird was significantly larger than the nearby (presumed) 1st-winter Ring-billed Gulls.






After several minutes it lifted off with the nearby gulls and flew south along the shoreline. Several other people looked for it later w/o luck.


According to Cornell:

Large“white-winged” gull (length 64-77 cm; wing length 42–49 cm; wingspan 132-142 cm; mass 1,250–2,700 g, males average larger than females) with heavy body and long, thick, powerful bill that appears rather straight-sided in profile, lacking a prominent gonydeal angle; the largest males are as large as the Great Black-backed Gull (L. marinus) but the smallest females may be smaller than male Herring Gulls (L. argentatus; MallingOlsen and Larsson 2003). In flight, the wings appear relatively broad with bluntly-pointed tips; at rest, folded wings show short primary projection (portion of primaries showing beyond tertials) and extend only a short distance beyond tail tip. Standing gull appears rather long-legged, deep-chested, thick-necked, and small-eyed, with a blunt rear end (short-winged) compared to Iceland and Herring (L. argentatus) gulls, with which Glaucous Gull is frequently seen. Head looks rather large, angular, and flat-crowned (particularly males), imparting a fierce expression.

Definitive (adult) plumage achieved in fourth calendar year, thus 4 age groups (first-, second-, and third-year birds and adult) identifiable during most of the year (see Appearance: molts and plumages, below). Adult has pale-gray mantlephoto and upperwingsphoto with whitephoto -tipped flight feathers; bill yellow to light yellow-orange with subterminal red spot; eyesphoto yellow or golden (irides) with yellow (occasionally orange or reddish) fleshy orbital ring; legsphoto pinkish. Head is white in Alternate (breeding) plumage and acquires variable amount of brown mottling in Basic (nonbreeding or winter) plumage. Sexes identical in plumage throughout year and distinguished only by size. Immature roughly similar in first and second years of life, having a bicolored bill (pale pinkish on basal two-thirds, with sharply demarcated black tip), pale whitish to brownish-buff plumage variably marked with fine, light-brown bars and checks, and pale buff-white primaries that appear translucent from below. First-year Glaucous Gull (Juvenile, Basic Iphoto , Alternate I plumages) characterized by dark eye (dark iris) and rather extensive light-brown barring on mantle, wing coverts, tail, and tail-coverts; overall uniform pale buff with paler wingtips; the bill is pink with a clear-cut black tip. Second-year gull (Basic II to Alternate II) differs in having eyes paler (whitish to light yellow with variable dark flecking) and barring on plumage sparser and patchier (less intricate), giving an overall paler appearance (whiter, especially head and under-parts); bill has less extensive black tip, and base may show some pale yellowish. By third year (Basic III to Alternate III), gull more similar to winter adult: head mottled brownish (becomes whiter in summer [Alternate III]); mantle and scapulars mainly clear pale gray; wingsphoto gray and patchy with faint brownish freckling, especially on inner coverts and tertials; rump white or faintly mottled, tail perhaps with faint brownish markings but otherwise white; and bill mainly dull yellow with blackish near tip.

Range map:



I posted an image on North American Gulls and got an interesting reply from Patrick Comins who wrote, 

Nice bird. I’ll take one like that over a Snowy Owl any day!
They are actually the largest gull. They beat Great Black-backed on max and average weight and the former by half a pound. They also have them beat on wingspan. The only thing GBBG beat them on is length from the tip of the tail to the tip of the bill. This has the stats:
That is just counting our huge and white “Greenland” Glaucous (𝘭𝘦𝘶𝘤𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘴) and not the even larger and whiter Siberian “Burgomaster Gulls” (𝘱𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘮𝘶𝘴). How much bigger? Their nesting range is so remote that it is mind blowing. Nobody is measuring them!
There are 118 checklists from Russia with photos of Glaucous Gulls and most are from the west where people actually live and look how dark the example is, as the nominate “Owl Gull” birds can be:
I checked and there are 2 checklists with photos from the Sakha Republic
None at all from the almost as large Krasnoyarsk Krai, and 18 from the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, which in theory covers their entire nesting range. Adding Kamchatka gives us 6 and Magadan Oblast 5 to be really safe. Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug or to the east is probably where they stop and adds 1 more.
Could your bird be a “Burgomaster”? There is really no way to tell and we just basically assume our eastern birds are 𝘭𝘦𝘶𝘤𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘴 and many (most?) of the ones in the west are the somewhat smaller and somewhat “dirtier” “Point Barrow” (𝘣𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘶𝘴). “Beachmaster” is more generic for any type and is quite appropriate!
Huge!
And white!
A little big:
Age is tricky but the bill pattern looks pretty crisp which suggests 2CY and as you mentioned the eyes.
- Patrick Comins

Thank you, Patrick for this wonderfully-detailed response!

I continued along the shoreline to the south end of Cell 4 and walked the dike to the mouth of the harbor. On my left small rafts of Lesser Scaup were swimming fairly close to shore. Light sprinkles were starting and the ducks were nicely illuminated by the diffuse lighting.



Another Horned Grebe was swimming among them.


More Lesser Scaup.






In flight their white secondaries contrast with their darker primaries (on Greater Scaup the white on the secondaries extends onto the primaries - see below).




Bufflehead were numerous on the lake and in Cell 4. 



This drake flew in from the lake.


A light rain started falling so I headed back to the bike and continued north along the west side of Cell 4 to Cell 5. A small raft of Lesser Scaup in the NW corner took flight and gave me a few more pics








Looping around the east side of Cell 5 I scanned the lake and found dozens of Horned Grebes far out on the water. The scope was needed to ID them, but among them were two Common Loons.

I reached the North Causeway and headed west along the Huron River where larger rafts of Lesser and Greater Scaup were concentrated, as well as many more Bufflehead.


A pair of American White Pelicans were swimming relatively close to shore. I counted 60 in the Vermet Unit on the way out to the Banana Unit.



Another Horned Grebe.


As I continued toward the west side of the Vermet Unit hundreds of ducks took flight in front of me and some passed overhead and allowed some photos. Lesser Scaup.


Canvasback.


Greater Scaup (note the white extending onto the primaries from secondaries).




As I rode south along the dike separating Vermet from Long Pond Units a Norther Harrier flushed from the shoreline. Another adult female. Too bad it was so backlit...



Had I checked out the Lautenschlager Unit I might've found 10 Greater White-fronted Geese that were reported shortly after by Bobby Irwin. Oh, well. I returned to the car and headed home only to hear on the radio that Chuck Norris died (86yr). RIP.

Pte. Mouillee SGA (permit required Sep 1-Dec 31), Monroe, Michigan, US
Mar 20, 2026 8:22 AM - 10:19 AM
Protocol: Traveling
9.79 mile(s)
Checklist Comments:     Cloudy, light rain/sprinkles. 45-55F.
38 species (+2 other taxa)

Canada Goose (Branta canadensis)  46
Mute Swan (Cygnus olor)  120
Wood Duck (Aix sponsa)  4
Northern Shoveler (Spatula clypeata)  36
Gadwall (Mareca strepera)  65
American Wigeon (Mareca americana)  46
Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos)  120
American Black Duck (Anas rubripes)  24
Canvasback (Aythya valisineria)  12
Redhead (Aythya americana)  14
Ring-necked Duck (Aythya collaris)  24
Greater Scaup (Aythya marila)  34
Lesser Scaup (Aythya affinis)  145
Greater/Lesser Scaup (Aythya marila/affinis)  400
scoter sp. (Melanitta sp.)  1
Bufflehead (Bucephala albeola)  230
Common Goldeneye (Bucephala clangula)  4
Common Merganser (Mergus merganser)  32
American Coot (Fulica americana)  60
Killdeer (Charadrius vociferus)  8
Bonaparte's Gull (Chroicocephalus philadelphia)  12
Ring-billed Gull (Larus delawarensis)  12
American Herring Gull (Larus smithsonianus)  14
Great Black-backed Gull (Larus marinus)  1
Glaucous Gull (Larus hyperboreus)  1     Found along the Lake Erie shoreline opposite Cell 3 at Pt. Mouillee. This  was the WHITEST gull I had ever seen! Glaucous Gull (Larus hyperboreus) based on its size relative to nearby American Herring and Ring-billed Gulls. The black-tipped pink bill put it at either a 1st-winter or 2nd-winter bird, but the dark eye makes me lean toward 1st-winter (2nd-winter birds have the pale yellow eye already).
Horned Grebe (Podiceps auritus)  65     Lake Erie from mouth of Huron River south to Cell 3. Continuing.
Common Loon (Gavia immer)  2
Double-crested Cormorant (Nannopterum auritum)  4
Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias)  1
American White Pelican (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos)  60     Vermet Unit on pelican island. Count by 2s.
Northern Harrier (Circus hudsonius)  3
Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus)  2
Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis)  1
Eastern Phoebe (Sayornis phoebe)  1
European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris)  12
American Robin (Turdus migratorius)  6
American Tree Sparrow (Spizelloides arborea)  4
Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia)  6
Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus)  85
Common Grackle (Quiscalus quiscula)  8

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S310970691

This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (https://ebird.org/home)

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