Ivory Gull
Pagophila eburnea

f14 @ 1/400s, ISO:2000, Nikon D300S w 300mm and 1.2X tele-extender

\"Ivory Gull,\" Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The Ivory Gull, Pagophila eburnea is a small gull, the only species in the genus Pagophila. It breeds in the high Arctic and has a circumpolar distribution through Greenland, northernmost North America, and Eurasia.This species is easy to identify. At 43 centimetres (17 in), it has a different, more pigeon-like shape than the Larus gulls, but the adult has completely white plumage, lacking the grey back of other gulls. The thick bill is blue with a yellow tip, and the legs are black. Its cry is a harsh eeeer. Young birds have a dusky face and variable amounts of black flecking in the wings and tail. The juveniles take two years to attain full adult plumage. There are no differences in appearance across the species’ geographic range.

Ny-Alesund, Svalbard, Norway

08/06/2010