Many of the animals that first to come to mind when you think of the northernmost extremes of our planet are quite likely white or largely white, like polar bears, arctic foxes, snowy owls and snow buntings, for example.

But few except for birders know that hidden among our winter gull flocks on the Maine coast, and at those most popular of gull food sources (dumpsites) one can find several gull species that grace us with their presence from these same far northern extremes.

The Iceland gull, despite its name, does not nest in Iceland but in the High Arctic of Canada and in Greenland. But in winter many head south to the United Kingdom, northern Europe and Iceland, and to eastern North America.

The larger and more powerful-looking glaucous gull, on the other hand, has an extensive breeding range that extends across the Arctic regions of the entire world and comes south to the mid-latitude regions of the Northern Hemisphere including the northeastern United States and Maritime Canada.

Here in Maine one can often find at least one or two of either species among large congregations of gulls up and down the coast and sometimes slightly more at landfills where gull numbers can occasionally reach the thousands. The immatures are particularly striking because in their first two years of life, they are a beautiful, creamy whitish color. When they spread their wings among a flock of our abundant herring and great black-backed gulls, they stand out as ghostly white delightful surprises. The adults, on the other hand, in both Iceland and glaucous gulls, are gray-backed like our abundant herring gulls but are a lighter shade of gray and lack the extensive jet black wingtips.

Data from Christmas Bird Counts across North America indicate an increase in numbers over recent decades in both species. This means they are probably a bit easier to find here in Maine now as compared to twenty or thirty years ago.

The ivory gull, in contrast, is much rarer and apparently in steep decline, at least in the Canadian portion of its very localized worldwide High Arctic breeding range. The ivory gull is a small gull, closer in size to a tern. In both immature and adult plumages, the ivory gull is largely white (immatures are flecked with black). When one of these spectacular gulls ventures as far south as even southern Canada, it is a special occasion.

When one gets south of that, it is a truly memorable event! Years ago, we took a wild, seasick-inducing mid-winter ferry ride out to Monhegan Island to see one that had been found there. We only had about 15 minutes on the island before the Laura B would be loaded up and heading back to Port Clyde and one of us (hint: Jeff) was trying to suppress the mind-numbing effects of nausea.

We had just about given up finding it and were back on the boat to head back to the mainland when the bird suddenly appeared and flew right by the dock. It didn’t make the seasickness go away, but it sure did give us something to think about on the ride back — and for the rest of our lives.