This third-cycle type presumed American Herring Gull Larus [argentatus] smithsonianus was photographed at Montrose Harbor, Chicago, Illinois on February 21, 2009. Conventional wisdom is that one of the strong features of non-adult smiths is that they have a fairly solid dark "shawl" around the base of the neck that contrasts with a whitish head; I contend that this individual is no more strongly-marked in this area than many L. argentatus argenteus:
