There aren't many photographs which knock my socks off, and most issues of
this journal and others seldom stop me so dead cold in my tracks, but this one
sure did! I just received the latest issue of "North American Birds" (Vol. 59:
No. 3, 2005) yesterday featuring a truly dazzling cover photo an adult Ivory
Gull taken at Gambell Island, AK this past May which sent me rushing to find
the caption on the inside page which reads in part; "With each passing season,
'global warming' moves more and more from the margins of scientific theory to
the status of observable fact ... it is estimated that Canadian populations of
this species [Ivory Gull] have declined 80% in the past twenty years."

80%?!!!?

Virtually everyone is certainly aware by now of the rapidly retreating polar
ice cap, the peril facing Polar Bears, and destabilization in the terrestrial
high Arctic. News regarding the apparent catastrophic decline and plight of
the Ivory Gull hits me as utterly shocking and slipping through the cracks. In
studies recently published by Gilchrist and Mallory, 2005 (see "N.A. Birds"
p391 & p394) states that at least in Arctic Canada, traditional colony sites
have been abandoned and Inuit hunters claim the species is disappearing. I had
utterly had no idea the plight of the Ivory Gull was so dire as are probably
few others until this profound moment.

My close friends and marine wildlife research colleagues, Bob Pitman and Lisa
Ballance recently noted during a summer visit to western Greenland this past
August to observe and study the Narwal (the 'unicorn' of the sea) expressed
great surprise and at a loss (as was I upon hearing their report) to explain why
they had not seen a single Ivory Gull during the entire visit there. Even
the Narwals were no where nearly as numerous or approachable as expected but
that's in part due to long term aboriginal hunting pressures placed upon them by
the locals, but that's all another story which is not pretty.

The 'glamorous' Polar Bear not withstanding, this is quite the rude wake up
call and without any further context to go on at this point, it does cause me
to wonder if this phenomenon being reported from Arctic Canada encompasses the
entire Arctic foraging and breeding range of the Ivory Gull and if so, are
similar impacts being observed in populations of other circumpolar high Arctic
species like Ross's Gull among others, both birds and mammals which depend on
the icy waters of the Arctic for the existence.

Anyway, just some food for thought if not yet another nail in the coffin
contributed to global warming regardless of who or a combination of whats are
responsible.

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Richard Rowlett
Seattle / Bellevue (Eastgate), WA, USA

"Discovery consists of seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what
nobody has thought" --Albert Szent-Gyorgi (1893-1986).
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