The past little while has seen me studying up on one of the Arctic's delightful small gulls, Ross's Gull (Rhodostethia rosea). While the Ross's Gulls are known to breed mainly in the Russian Arctic there have been four known breeding sites in North America, one in Churchill Manitoba and three in Nunavut, the most recently discovered site found in 2005. In theory these gulls could be found around Arctic Bay, two of the Nunavut breeding locations are found north of here, near Resolute Bay, the other is found about the same distance south of here, in the Foxe Basin, between here and Iglulik.
They are an unmistakable bird in adult breeding plumage, a small gull with long wings, mostly white with a black "necklace", grey mantle and a pink tinge to their breast. They are a very beautiful bird.
I have been lucky to see Ross's Gulls twice, both times in Churchill Manitoba in the mid-80s. Here are three scanned slides from the first encounter with them (1985?). Unfortunately not the best quality, but you get the idea (except the pinkish breast). When I arrived, I asked the cab driver (they were very big news then) if he knew where I could find them. He laughed and said something along the lines "Everyone wants to see those birds, try down near the elevators in the ponds" and dropped me nearby, pointing the way. Sure enough right beside the road was a pair of them, mostly unconcerned with me as I clicked away with the camera.
As a bonus, seeing as many people I know seem to be seeing Rough-legged Hawks on their way north these days, here is a photo of a Rough-legged Hawk nest at Prince of Wales Fort from the same visit to Churchill, probably the second most exciting things those cannons have seen in the almost three hundred year history of the fort.
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That RLH sure knows where to nest for plenty of security.
It can be a noisy neighbourhood at times though Dave.