Rare visiting ivory gull attracting crowds of birders to Duluth

By Sam Cook on Jan 5, 2016 at 6:47 p.m.

Duluth's Scott Wolff wasn't sure exactly what kind of gull he was looking at during his walk on Park Point on Dec. 30. But he could see that it was nearly all white, unlike all other species of gulls typically seen in the Twin Ports.

So, he alerted a couple of birding friends, who two days later saw and confirmed the bird as an ivory gull, the first ever seen in Duluth and an extremely rare visitor anywhere in the Lower 48 states. The species is native to the high Arctic, spending its winters on pack ice of the Arctic Ocean.

The bird is still here, hanging out near Canal Park, Duluth birder Laura Erickson said Tuesday. She first saw the gull on New Year's Day.

"I've been birding for 41 years, and I'd never seen one," Erickson said.

That's saying something. Erickson had seen about 1,700 species in her life, including 675 species in the Lower 48, Alaska and Canada, before she saw the ivory gull.

The sighting — and the continued presence of the gull — has set off a frenzy of birders flocking to Duluth to see the bird and add it to their "life lists." Ivory gulls typically follow polar bears and seals on the pack ice, gleaning scraps from their kills, Erickson said. People are coming from across Minnesota and Wisconsin by the hundreds to catch a glimpse of it, Erickson said.

Jan and Larry Kraemer of Duluth, avid birders and former guides for the Duluth Audubon Society, heard about a possible rare gull and went looking on New Year's Day near the mouth of Miller Creek, close to WLSSD, Larry Kraemer said. They saw and identified the bird as an ivory gull.

"It's unmistakable," Kraemer said. "It's not a 'maybe.' "

An adult ivory gull is 17 inches long with a wingspan of about 33 inches, according to "The Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Eastern North America."

The Kraemers had never seen one before.

Later the same day, they saw it at Canal Park with fellow Duluth birder Peder Svingen, who tossed out some salmon and tuna to attract the gull.

The bird can usually be seen at Canal Park early in the morning and late in the day, Erickson said.

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Mercury pollution poses threat to Arctic birds

By Tim Sandle 16 hours ago in Environment

Research indicates that mercury pollution has risen around 50-fold in the feathers of a rare Arctic bird over the past 130 years. Conservationists are concerned for the bird’s future.

The bird at risk is the ivory gull. The ivory gull (Pagophila eburnea) is a small gull (17 inches tall) which breeds in the high Arctic. In non-breeding seasons the bird can be found in Greenland, Canada, and Eurasia. Unusually for a gull, the bird has a totally white plumage.

There are around 20,000 birds in existence. The species is said, by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, to be in rapid decline and the status is “threatened.”

As well as habitat loss and risk from predators, the ivory gull has a new threat: mercury poisoning. New research, based on a review of museum specimens, indicates high mercury levels in the gulls. The analysis spanned the time period from 1877 to 2007. Here the increase in mercury levels was over fifty times, with the greatest rises occurring over the past thirty years.

The finding with the gulls is consistent with rising mercury levels in other Arctic birds, fish and mammals. The source of the mercury probably relates to atmospheric pollution. The gull is a good indicator of mercury levels due to the absorption of the toxin into its feathers. The direct concern with the gulls is that, in time, this will affect the bird’s reproduction.

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Once in a lifetime Gull spotted in Quincy

QUINCY, Ill. (WGEM) -

Bird enthusiasts from all over the Midwest descended upon Quincy Saturday to get a glimpse of the extremely rare Ivory Gull. 

"It's a fairly small gull but very elegant, pure white with very dark eyes and legs, with this cute little bill that's dark with a yellow tip on it," biology professor Jim Mountjoy said. 

It was rainy, cold, and damp. But that didn't stop Knox College Biology Professor and bird expert Jim Mountjoy from getting a glimpse of the Ivory Gull. He says the bird is a native of the high Arctic Islands and is rarely seen in the lower 48.

"This is an exceedingly rare bird to spot this far south," Mountjoy said. "Anywhere in the continental United States it's pretty hard to see, even if you go to Alaska it's sometimes quite difficult."

Mountjoy says he's been bird watching for over 40 years, and has only spotted the Ivory Gull one other time. He calls Saturday a very rare sighting in the state of Illinois.

"In 1991 there were two records of the Ivory Gull in Illinois and those were the only two well accepted records," Mountjoy said. 

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