A gull closely tied to Arctic sea ice. Adults are white, while young birds keep dark mottling.
Adults have white plumage; young birds have dark mottling on the body and a darker bill.
A Svalbard study surveyed Ivory Gull breeding sites from 2006 to 2019, visiting 117 colonies and discovering 60 of them during the project. Every confirmed breeding site was on a cliff; the researchers found no ground-nesting colonies. Searching remote areas added many sites to the known picture of where the gulls breed.
Of the 57 sites known before the study, 18 were occupied during the survey years. Colonies were not used every year, and the most complete survey in 2019 produced an estimate of 1,500–2,000 breeding pairs. Combining colony discoveries with records of annual occupancy gave the researchers a clearer view of breeding across Svalbard.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.
The 31 Svalbard colonies monitored every year declined by more than 40% from 2009 to 2019. They held an estimated 30–40% of the archipelago’s breeding population, and trends differed among colonies. Adult movements between colonies also contributed to annual changes, so the authors emphasize continued monitoring across multiple sites.