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Help develop a Bird ID tool!

Ivory Gull

Pagophila eburnea ORDER: CHARADRIIFORMES FAMILY: LARIDAE

IUCN Conservation Status: Near Threatened

A small white gull of the high Arctic, the Ivory Gull only rarely comes south of the Bering Sea or the Maritime Provinces. In fact, it rarely is found away from pack ice, spending the winter on the ice north of Newfoundland.

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Appearance

Gulls
Gulls
Typical Voice

Adult Description

  • Medium-sized gull.
  • Pure white.
  • Black eyes.
  • Black legs and feet.
  • Small bill bluish at base, turning grayish green, with yellow or red tip.

Immature Description

First Winter (Basic I) Plumage: Mostly white, with dark blackish brown face. Back covered in blackish brown spots. Tail tip and tips of flight feathers black. Bill all dark.
First Summer (Alternate II) Plumage: Mostly white, with fewer dark spots, less blackish on face.

Range Map Help

Ivory Gull Range Map
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Field MarksHelp

  • Adult
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    Ivory Gull

    Adult
    • © 2004 Cornell Lab of Ornithology, North of the Arctic Circle, September 2000
  • First winter
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    Ivory Gull

    First winter
    • © 2004 Cornell Lab of Ornithology, North of the Arctic Circle, September 2000
  • First summer
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    Ivory Gull

    First summer
    • © 2004 Cornell Lab of Ornithology, North of the Arctic Circle, September 2000

Similar Species

  • No other gull is normally completely white. Albino gulls should not have black legs or yellow bill.

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    The Allure of the Ivory Gull. Story and photos in Living Bird magazine.