Subject: A very White Bird day
Date: Dec 21 12:15:40 2001
From: Ruth Sullivan - godwit at worldnet.att.net


Hello Ryan and Tweeters,
In responding about of the larger bill of the Ivory Gull. I said the same
thinb about the bill which seems larger on this bird than in all the
birdbooks.Looking in Grant's plate 394 this looks about right ,and my photos
some i already got back shows the same.I got some fantastic shots of this
bird,asking the work crew to stop the machinery because there came of inches
on this Gull worry he would be hit.But the bird flew right done to the Drake
Mallard where this bird was feeding viscously with out beeing desturbed by
us.We also had permission from the work crew to go over the rail road tracks
what was realy nice asking us queston about this birds whereabout.What a day
even so it took us almost seven hours to find this bird,it was worth while.
Ruth Sullivan
godwit at worldnet.att.net
Tacoma
----- Original Message -----
From: Ryan Shaw <rtshaw80 at hotmail.com>
To: <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Sent: Thursday, December 20, 2001 9:41 PM
Subject: A very White Bird day


>
>
>
> ----
> 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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