The Glaucous Gull is a large gull with pale wing tips. Young birds have different plumage from adults.
Adults have a white head and body with pale gray back and wings, and no black at the wingtips. Young birds have brownish streaks.
Glaucous Gulls are large Arctic birds that feed on fish and other coastal foods. Researchers examined stomachs from 21 adult gulls collected near Longyearbyen, Svalbard, in May 2018. Plastic fragments larger than one millimetre were found in three birds, a frequency of 14.3%.
The fragments were identified as polypropylene and polystyrene using infrared analysis. This was the first report of plastic ingestion in Glaucous Gulls from Svalbard. The study provides a standardized local reference for comparing the kinds and frequency of plastic found in Arctic gulls over time.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.
Plastic was found in three of 21 adult Glaucous Gulls from Svalbard and identified as polypropylene and polystyrene. Repeated stomach sampling in the same region can compare changes in the kinds and frequency of plastic the gulls ingest.