Birds of the Week – American Herring Gull

The largest gull In Interior Alaska, slightly larger than the Glaucous-winged Gull, is the Herring Gull. This is a highly variable species, and ornithologists disagree on how many species and subspecies there are, and even what its name should be. A big gull with pink legs and a honking big bill, it has black first and second primaries with white “windows” and a white tail, making it easy to distinguish from the similarly-sized Glaucous-winged Gull. The Herring Gull is another four year gull, resulting in a truly bewildering series of plumage changes. The International Ornithological Union and the American Ornithological…