Walt Chambers found a second cycle, ABA Code-3, Ivory Gull (Pagophila eburnea) at West Point Dam on 25 January in western Georgia. The bird was still being seen there on the 28th. This perhaps represents the southernmost report of an Ivory Gull. It being an adult bird is considered unusual. In the past, 1st cycle gulls provided most winter records in the ABA Area.
On 27 January and adult Ivory Gull was spotted eating a bird carcass on the ice at Easton's Pond in Middletown, Rhode Island.
Ivory Gull is a two cycle gull, most authors placing it in the monotypic genus, Pagophila (ice-loving), although others place it in the large Larus genus, even though it is osteologically different from the Larus gulls. Some ornithologists consider Ivory Gull intermediate with the skuas (HBW, Volume 3). Morphometric analysis shows it has no consistent link with any other species. It is a holarctic breeder, found mainly north of the Arctic Circle in breeding colonies of 5-3000 individuals. It is thought to spend its winters on, or along the edge of the pack ice in the Bering Sea, Labrador Sea, Davis Strait, and probably off of eastern Greenland (Gulls of the Americas, Howell and Dunn). The ABA Checklist denotes this species with a skull and crossbones, a designation for a Species of Special Concern. HBW estimates the population of Ivory Gulls at Svalbard (midway between Norway and the North Pole) at 1000 pairs. However, only five of the Svalbard colonies have been visited twice, and on the second visit, four colonies had either declined or disappeared.
Ivory Gull is known to associate with polar bears, feeding on scraps from the bears' kills and from bear and seal excrement. In winter, in ares of continuous winter darkness, Ivory Gull stomach contents have shown to contain the nocturnal lantern-fish, sometimes exclusively.
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