More casualties of global warming.

[Maestro]

Washington, D.C. -- Recent studies have shown that the ivory gull's population has drastically decreased and is continuing to fall. The latest survey by the Canadian Wildlife Service in 2005 found a 90 percent drop, and experts question whether global warming is to blame. In fact, the decline in ivory gull numbers in the North American population has been steeper and more rapid than in polar bears, which the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed in December to list under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).

"The ivory gull populations throughout the Arctic are decreasing, but in North America there are quite possibly even fewer ivory gulls now than there are of the better-known and more recognized polar bears," says Chris Haney, chief scientist for Defenders of Wildlife.

Chapter two of Defenders' global warming series, "Navigating the Arctic Meltdown," addresses the unique challenges that ivory gulls face in their rapidly changing Arctic environment. The report also offers steps that can be taken now that will result in long-term benefits for recovering ivory gull populations.

This sea bird, one of the least known and rarest in North America, relies on the sea ice and glaciers near the shore for both foraging for food and breeding. With the shrinking and dramatic movement of pack ice floes due to global warming, it is becoming increasingly difficult for the ivory gull to find food and keep their nesting sites safe from predators.

More here.

It saddens me that as a result of direct influence by humans because of our consumption of fossil fuels, we are now destroying this species. It isn't the first, but just the latest.