When a December nor'wester flattened beach grass and surf, one of my favorite sports was lying under a dune-shelter with field glasses and attempting to separate different Gull species as they winged in hundreds over the outer seabreak. On one occasion I saw twenty-seven "white gulls." Whether they were all ICELANDs never will be known. To me, this species is indistinguishable, in the field, from the Glaucous. The only difference is size (and that is a poor factor unless birds are in the hand). While hardier than their larger relative, they seem less rapacious on the breeding grounds, altho an unguarded fat little Murre probably would disappear down the Iceland death chasm as quickly as into a Glaucous gullet.
Arctic regions. South in Winter to New England and some seasons comparatively numerous off Long Island.