Mew Gulls in Alaska

Mew Gull is a bird that is on my lifelist, identified when I was a kid, but I have no memory of and really don't know if I had correct, so I was looking forward to seeing this bird again.  It didn't disappoint in Ketchikan.

 With the petite plain bill and dark eye they really reminded me of kittiwakes.

The giant white windows in the primaries were fairly unique however.

The extent of white in the wingtips varied from bird to bird, and not just with the stage of molt.

Even the darker wing-tipped bird above has a pretty decent string of pearls.

I was hoping to see some young birds, but this sub-adult was the only one I came up with.

Assuming these birds are representative of whatever subspecies would turn up in Berrien, I feel better that they'll hopefully stand out.