Hello Tweets,

Today my mother and I ventured north to southwestern British Columbia in
search of the adult IVORY GULL at Roberts Bank, where we found it at 1:05pm,
after extensive searching of the immediate area throughout the day from
7am-1pm made by up to 12 other additional birders. The bird was located by
us, as we were driving along the Coal Port Jetty Rd., north of the Roberts
Bank Jetty at 1:05pm, as it stood along the railroad tracks. The gull soon
dropped down to the shoreline, where we were allowed closer views of the
bird, as well as excellent photographs at a close range of 8 feet. I stood
near the barge location scoping the inner bay of the Roberts Bank Jetty,
along with 5 other birders, then my mother came back from searching by car,
and immediately announced to us all she may have had the bird along the
shoreline along the north road going to the Coal Port Jetty, then we both
headed to the location, while the other birders remained behind. The bird
was possibly seen by my mother previous to the actual sighting at 1:05pm,
but confirmed by us immediately afterwards, then soon after viewed by 5
other birders during our visit until 1:40pm, as we watched and photographed
the bird feeding on a recently killed drake Mallard along the exposed rocky
shoreline, just below the railroad tracks, and it allowed very close
approach and appeared fearless of our closeness to it, or active railroad
workers that were busy nearby along the railroad tracks. The bird only
seemed interested in dining on the Mallard, which it continued to forage on
until we left the scene, but it very possible this bird could have been at
this location the entire day, as it is completely out of sight from the
immediate road. The gull is primarily snow white throughout, with only small
tiny black specks on it's face and small dark wing spots, which can be
viewed at close range. It seems that the bird will remain in the area for
some time, and it seems quite healthy, as we watched it devour the Mallard,
but during the daytime it may be quite hard to locate the bird at times, but
perhaps in the late afternoon/evening it may be easy to locate, if it
continues to roost on the barges within the inner bay of Roberts Bank. As
noted by several other birders in previous reports and sightings this bird
is observed by itself, and doesn't seem to congregate with other gulls, as
it keeps to itself. During the day it could search the exposed shoreline
within the area in search of edible food away from normal haunts and out of
sight, then possibly return to the barges to roost for the night, but it
seems the barges shift locations daily. The general area is quite busy of
port workers, heavy equipment, and truck traffic, and many of the areas of
access are limited to the public, but possible as in our personal case
accessible if NOT too much traffic and machinery is noted at that location.
We basically announced to the several railroad workers working along the
railroad tracks, if we could approach the bird, and they graciously obliged
to our asking, but we kept in mind to limit our time, and respected their
working space. We found it very fortunate to see the bird, and to obtain
photographs, and were happy that several others that were present in the
area during our visit to also see this elusive bird. We thank Barry Levine
who emphasized the importance of checking along the railroad tracks for the
Ivory Gull, and NOT only the the barge in the inner bay, as it proved
successful to us. During our visit, and while searching the Roberts Bank
vicinity to and from 72nd Street Dike Access along the shores of Boundary
Bay we noted several other additional highlights including:

1 YELLOW-BILLED LOON(present in the inner bay of Roberts Bank, with up to 8
Common Loons present nearby)
1 Eared Grebe
28 Eurasian Wigeon
4 Long-tailed Ducks(Oldsquaw)
7 Rough-legged Hawks
1 Am.Kestrel
1 Peregrine Falcon
5 Least Sandpipers
7-8,000+ Dunlin(circling over Boundary Bay)
3 Thayer's Gulls
2 Northern Shrikes

My mother and I observed a Northern Saw-whet Owl along a wooded area
northbound on I-5(north of Samish Lake,and south of Bellingham)on our way to
Blaine at 6:55am, being our first bird of the day, as it was probably
heading off to a daytime roost. On our way home after spending 1 hour at the
border coming back into WA at 3:30pm, my mother and I stopped at the Blaine
Waterfront Park, where we ran into Jack Kintner with his two dogs, and
another birder from BC. We mangaged to locate a few highlights considering
the fading sunlight, which included:

1 EURASIAN GREEN-WINGED TEAL
1 Merlin
4 Marbled Godwits
360+ Dunlin
2 Western Sandpipers
2 Thayer's Gulls


Good birding,

Ruth and Patrick Sullivan
GODWIT at worldnet.att.net