As mentioned under Vega Gull, there are several opinions of the taxonomic status of this bird. It has recently been considered a subspcies of Caspian Gull (L. cachinnans mongolicus) to forming a species with Vega Gull (East Siberian Gull), to support for being a valid species in it's own right. We were able to study these birds at several sites, at times with Heuglin's type gulls side-by-side.