© A. R. Dean

Note powerful build. Bill very robust with prominent gonys and rather bulbous tip, producing a 'drooping' look to the tip. Distinctive profile to head and bill, with long sloping forehead running into culmen at a very low angle (no real 'forehead bump'); although large in absolute terms, the head is actually proportionately unexceptional in relation to body size. Plumage has a rather buffy-brown appearance and strongly variegated mantle, scapulars and coverts; the coverts in particular have a more 'open' and marbled appearance than other species of large gull of this age.