Brad Waggoner here reporting from Bill & Nancy's account: I came to the TriCities to try to find the Lesser Black-backed Gull but I found an Ivory Gull instead.

I observed it today around 1:30 pm at the Bateman Island marina along Columbia Park Trail near Bateman Island. I was driving east when I first observed it flying upriver. I followed it back to just west of the covered docks where it landed on the ice with some other gulls.

I was able to study no it longer than 3 minutes as it moved around the ice. It then picked up and flew off upriver.

It looked most like the pictured first-winter bird in the National Geographic guide with a little bit less black on the coverts.

Although Nancy was close by, it was only a white bird in the distance. Efforts to relocate it were totally unsuccessful.

Brad