"Thayer's Gull" - Categorized Inaccurately For Decades
I guess I’ll cut to the chase- I’m a veteran student of Larus (at it 40+ years!) that knows his stuff. Of course, many would claim this, but remain sadly ignorant to the true nature of this family. A distressing percentile of so-called “gullers” are obstinate in dismissing my findings, whether out of convenience or the belief that they have this clade “all figured out”, I am not not sure. But it is not wise to ignore 40+ years of experience and research! Through many decades of astute observation, I have concluded that there is a previously unrecognized western continuum of North America’s Herring Gull (now sadly called “American Herring Gull” by certain “authorities”!), averaging smaller, shorter-billed, dark-eyed, and with slightly paler primaries incorporating a variable amount of black markings. Most gullers are no doubt familiar with the purported “Thayer’s Gull”, considered by various bodies to be either a distinct entity or a part of the ever-expanding “Iceland Gull complex”. Th...