Ivory Gull

Pagophila eburnea (Phipps, 1774)

Ivory Gull Pagophila eburnea breeds in the high Arctic of Greenland, Svalbard, Franz Josef Land, Herald Island and northern Canada, and in winter it ranges along the Arctic Ocean pack-ice edge to south-east Greenland, Labrador and the Bering seas. It is a gull of the family Laridae and the only member of its genus. First described by Phipps in 1774, it is a resident breeder in the far north. It is known for its pure white adult plumage, with a blue bill tipped yellow, black legs and a dark eye ring.

Order

Charadriiformes

Family

Laridae — Gulls, Terns, Skimmers

Breeding range

Palearctic, North America: high Arctic is. from Greenland, Svalbard (n of Norway), Franz Josef Land to Herald I. (e of Wrangel I., n of Chukotka Pen.; n Russia) and n Canada

Nonbreeding range

Arctic Ocean pack-ice edge to se Greenland, Labrador and Bering seas