Ivory Gull in Gloucester Ma 1-20-09

Well with all the reports coming in about the Ivory Gull , I decided to go down to Eastern point Gloucester Mass and see if I could in fact find this bird. When I arrived on Eastern point drive I notice some bird scoping the area, I asked if they had seen the Ivory Gull, hasn't been seen for an hour. Not the answer that I wanted to hear after driving for 3 plus hours but it was a nice day so I got out my scope and started looking at what the coast had to offer. First thing I found was a Common Eider, then a Common Loon and some Buffleheads when someone yelled out they have it on the point. Everyone was packing to head out to the point when word also come along that there is no parking down there and that the police are tagging cars and towing , so off we went walking the MILE out to Eastern Point. As we reached the point the question on everyone's mind was-Is the Ivory Gull still here? it was. Someone pointed to the Ivory gull resting on the jetty, scope views were the order of the day when all of a sudden the gull took off circled the crowd and landed about 30 feet in front of everyone and began searching for food. What a beautiful little bird compared to the other gulls, a white color that aginest the snow gives new meaning to the color white and if that wasn't enough the color of the bill was amazingly beautiful. I cropped this image below 200% to show the color of the bill , but you can't see the purplish-blue transition to yellow then orange on the lower tip. If you go you'll see the wonderful colors of this bird, photos just don't do it justice. Here is a list of some of the bird I saw along the coast of Mass : Gadwall, Bufflehead, Black Duck, Common Eider, Common Loon, Glaucous Gull, Thayer's Gull, Iceland Gull, Kumlien's Gull, Snow Buntings, Peregrine Falcon, Northern Mockingbird, Coopers hawk, Red-tailed hawk, Rough-legged hawk, Snowy Owl, White-wing Crossbills along with some of the more common winter birds
I am going to post the W-W Crossbill images in a few days.

Good Birding to all!

Peter

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