Image of Great black-backed gull

Description:

The most common gull in Barrow at this time of year is Glaucous Gull. All ages present in numbers and probably 250 Glaucous Gulls were in the immediate area. The red looking soil is a sandy beach where the native peoples had butchered two Bowhead Whales in the past several days and the gulls were enjoying the leftovers. Among the Glaucous Gulls was one immature Great Black-backed Gull. It had been originally found a few days earlier by others so we knew it was in the area. From what we understand, this is only about the 3rd record of this eastern bird ever in Alaska. Most of the images will also have Glaucous Gulls visible. Barrow!? What am I doing in Barrow, Alaska, the northern most town in the U.S., you ask. Well…it’s like this. I have a friend in Austin named Isaac who is a crazy bird photographer like I am. A couple of months ago he sent me an email saying he wanted to go to Barrow for a long weekend to try to photograph Ross’s Gull, one of the rarest gulls in North America. Apparently the species migrates from Siberia across parts of the Arctic Ocean in early October and sometimes can be seen in numbers in Barrow. I had seen the species once before, in Canada in 1988: http://www.inaturalist.org/observations/151409 but I thought, what the heck. Sounds like an adventure. Very few birds will be around in Barrow at that time of year, but we might see some Ross’s Gulls which is a super fine bird. So, to make a long story short, we left Austin at 7 PM October 8 and 18 hours of airplanes and airports later found ourselves in Barrow, Alaska where it was 24 degrees F., with a 20 mph north wind. Just balmy conditions. We will have two and a half days here before heading home. Yeah, I know…totally insane! This is cold for Texas guys!