Photo from Flickr, Skip Shand

There are two races of Iceland Gulls and the one, known as the Kumlien’s race, breeds in the Canadian High Arctic and overwinters in Atlantic Canada and into the Great Lakes St.Lawrence region. This species is almost entirely white and pale-pearly grey, with a bright yellow bill and dark pink legs. Listen to find out more features of this bird and to hear it breeding call!

Each week we introduce a new bird from the Ottawa-Gatineau area through our segment on CBC Radio’s In Town and Out. Alex MacDonald, Nature Canada’s Manager of Protected Areas, shares interesting facts about the birds that live in our communities. Be sure to tune-in to “Bird Tweet of the Week” on CBC Radio One 91.5 FM on Saturday mornings from 6am to 9am and listen to past episodes on our website.

This episode aired on Saturday, February 13th, 2016.