----
Greetings All-
Steve Mlodinow, Bill Tweit, Dennis Duffy and myself headed up to BC with
very high hopes of seeing the now famous Ivory Gull at Roberts Bank. We
arrived at the spot it had been seen all week by the barge it had been
roosting on. Here we met Gene Hunn, who we birded with for the rest of the
day, but alas...No Bird. There were people crawling all around the barge and
no pure white bird in sight. So we became quite discouraged. Several other
parties of birders combed the area without any luck. We decided to check
other spots in the area, and headed out to 72nd Avenue where it was
originally found. No luck there. So, we decided to check Point Roberts area
hopeful to get it on the "right" side of boundary bay ;-) Unfortunately we
didn't find an Ivory Gull at this location, but many Black Turnstones and a
Rock Sandpiper were a nice treat. As were lots of vocal Sooty Fox Sparrows,
Golden-crowned Sparrows, Towhees, and a lone Hermit Thrush. We then went
back to Robert's Bank to check for the Ivory again.... No luck. Though
staring at several dozen Eurasian Wigeon was a trip, and several Black Brant
along the shoreline.
So we decided to check the Twassassen (or however you spell it) Ferry
Terminal jetty thingamajig...
Along the southern portion of the jetty were 2 Black Oystercatchers, a pair
of Snow Buntings, and a Willet. Another white bird (Snow Geese and Swam sp.
seen before in the day) but no Ivory Gull. So.... after a mckyd's stop, we
went back to Roberts Bank.
Upon arrival at the end of the road, we were again discouraged to not find
the Ivory. And its favorite barge had been towed out a ways. Steve and
Dennis decided to walk along the shorleline, while Gene, Bill and myself
drove a little ways down to look through the Mew Gulls and look closer at
the Brant to try to find a Gray-belly. But after only a few minutes of us
scanning the massive duck flock, We see a red SUV bearing down on us honking
its horn wildly. It was Steve and he's yellling at us that the bird showed
up! So I jumped in Steve's rig, and we all high-tailed it out to the end.
And at the end of the road, I jumped out of the car (almost literally) and
ran to the crowd of birders to take a peak at the gull. Well my adrenaline
was rushing quite heavily and everyone was all excited, though at this time,
all we could really see of the bird was its upper 2/3 of its body, the other
1/3 being hidden by the smaller barge it was sitting on. Apparently as
Dennis and Steve were walking the shoreline, Dennis spotted the Ivory Gull
commenting, and I'm changing the exact commentary for my own ammusement..
Dennis: "That sure is a really white gull" Steve: "what that
Glaucous-wing?" Dennis: "No the other white one" Steve: Holy Guacamole!
That's the Ivory Gull!" This was at 2:35PM

So we all got great views of it through the scope, and found some better
vantage points to look at the whole bird. It had a longer bill than I was
expecting, and its apparently in its 2nd winter. There's a bit of black
speckling behind the eye and on various other places on the gulls body, but
for the most part, a gleaming off-white color. Thought he blood stain on
the forehead was a bit contrasting from where it was feeding on a dead
mallard carcass. We watched the bird for at least an hour and a half until
it started to get a bit dark outside, I even attempted to sketch the neat
little thing.
What an awesome day!
Cheers
Ryan

----Ryan Shaw
----Lacey, Washington
----rtshaw80 at hotmail.com
----(360) 491-1084
AIM: RTShaw80


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