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Ivory Gull UPDATE: Sunday, Nov 7

I’ve received word that the Ivory Gull is still being seen this Sunday morning. Apparently there is not much meat left on the seal/pinniped carcass so chances are this may be the last day anyone sees the Ivory Gull before it moves on. Get out there and see it today folks!!

Curious beach-goers observe the Ivory Gull

UPDATE: Brad Schram reports that Wes Fritz just told him that this morning the adult IVORY GULL is cycling back and forth between the original seal carcass on the beach at the end of Grand Avenue (Pismo Beach) and a second seal carcass beneath the Kon Tiki Hotel in north Pismo Beach, near the wooden steps down to the beach. A Google map request will pinpoint the Kon Tiki.

The new carcass is good news, maybe predicting a longer stay–the original carcass is past its sell-by date.

Close up fly by the Ivory Gull

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Posted by ctaylor on November 7, 2010 in Photography Adventures

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Tags: arctic, grover beach, ivory gull, Pagophila eburnea, pinnipeda, pismo beach, sea lion, seal

Ivory Gull UPDATE: Saturday, Nov 6

November 06

Curious beach-goers watch Ivory Gull flying in

Arrived at Grover/Pismo Beach, CA just before sunrise this morning as birders began combing the beach in all directions and it didn’t take long for someone to locate the Ivory Gull just past 7:15AM. We all enjoyed great looks of the IVGU as it fed on the carcass of a pinniped that had washed up on the beach.

Ivory Gull

We could tell the bird was becoming increasingly agitated as more and more people showed up to walk their dogs along the beach. Eventually the bird flew off north toward the pier. No one was able to relocate the bird until it showed up again an hour later at the same feasting spot.

Ivory Gull

Again, it stayed in the same spot feeding until more and more people, including two people on horseback that were completely oblivious to the throng of birders, walked through the crowd toward the bird again scaring it up. We were able to relocate the Ivory Gull 10 minutes later at the Lagoon just north of the original location.

Ivory Gull

The Gull seems to be in good health and didn’t seem to mind the multitudes of birders with large lenses sneaking closer and closer to the bird. In fact, some of us were able to get within 15 feet of the bird!

Wes Fritz getting down and dirty

Larry Sansone, Todd McGrath and others

Pinniped Carcass – Ivory Gull Lunch

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Posted by ctaylor on November 6, 2010 in Photography Adventures

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Tags: arctic, carcass, grover beach, ivory gull, Pagophila eburnea, pinniped, pismo beach, san luis obispo, sea lions, seal

Breaking News: IVORY GULL in CALIFORNIA!

November 05

Ivory Gull

You heard right. On November 4th, Mike Stensvold found and photographed an IVORY GULL. To give you an idea of the magnitude of such a claim:

Range map of Ivory Gull

The reason for the delay in letting everyone know? He wasn’t sure what the bird was. He’s a beginning birder that loves photographing them and had sent the photo’s off to more knowledgeable friends to help ID the bird. No one got back to him until today! That’s when I got ahold of the images and assured him it was an Ivory Gull and let everyone know about it. Poor guy, he feels terrible about not getting the word out sooner but he didn’t want to get chastised like the last time he thought he had a rare bird and was unsure of the ID!

More stunning photos from Mike:

Ivory Gull

I’ve also setup a website here documenting all correspondence and field observations of the IVORY GULL as results trickle in. Good luck to all those that go looking for the bird tomorrow and this weekend. I will be there bright and early tomorrow!

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Posted by ctaylor on November 5, 2010 in Photography Adventures

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Tags: california, ivory gull, Pagophila eburnea, pismo beach

Dead coral found near BP Gulf disaster…

November 05

More disturbing discoveries developing in the aftermath of the BP oil spill. Surveys of the sea floor near the BP oil well in Mexico has turned up dead and dying coral reefs.

Callogorgia gracilis, with brittle star Asteroschema

The coral sites lie seven miles southwest of the well, at a depth of about 4,500 feet, in an area where large plumes of dispersed oil were discovered drifting through the deep ocean last spring in the early weeks after the spill.

Coral sites in shallow waters farther from the oil spill epicenter have not suffered as severely but I’m sure we’ll be discovering long-term after effects of the spill in years to come.

More info can be found from this NY times article.

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Posted by ctaylor on November 5, 2010 in Photography Adventures

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Tags: bp, coral, gulf of mexico, oil spill, reefs, texas

Great Migrations – Premieres Nov. 7!

November 05

Set your Betamax recording devices for the new seven-part television series from National Geographic called “Great Migrations“.

Gentoo Penguins in Antarctica

To capture the images and video for the series, National Geographic spent two and a half years in the field, traveling 420,000 miles across 20 countries and all seven continents.

Great Migrations premieres in the U.S. on Sunday, November 7 on the National Geographic Channel.

Walrus in the Arctic

Black-browed Albatrosses on The Falkland Islands

Ivory Gull UPDATE: Sunday, Nov 7

Ivory Gull UPDATE: Saturday, Nov 6

Breaking News: IVORY GULL in CALIFORNIA!

Dead coral found near BP Gulf disaster…

Great Migrations – Premieres Nov. 7!

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