On our paddle today we ran into a Biologist on a boat photographing what we thought was just another gull. Not so as it turns out. This gull was an Ivory Gull, very rare and perhaps blown of course by a storm the biologist thought. Pagophila eburnea, is the only all white gull with "black legs". The gull is pigeon sized with a dove like head; wings long and flight Tern like. The bill is black with a yellow tip. The range of this bird is the High Arctic; circumpolar. Breeds locally on Arctic islands of northernmost Canada (NWT). Winters from pack ice south of to Gulf of St. Lawrence and Newfoundland. So we were fortunate enough to witness this little fellow as he played along the shore and in no obvious hurry to continue on his journey.
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