This is bird node.

Polar bears symbolize the icy landscapes of the far north like no other animal.

The bear's way of life, its very survival, is inseparable

from the Arctic pack ice. Less familiar, is a remarkable bird that shares with the polar bear this vital link to ice. The ivory gull.

Just as polar bears are clad in white fur, ivory gulls are feathered entirely in white, adapted to the whiteness of their world.

Long-winged and graceful in flight, ivory gulls breed on the northernmost islands of the Canadian Arctic and other high Arctic sites.

They spend the winter near the pack ice.

The gulls feed on small fish and other marine life, but also scavenged carcasses, including those left by polar bears.

As a polar bear consumes the choice parts of the seal,

ivory gulls weight at the edge of the action

intent on sharing the leftovers.

Global warming has brought increasing change to the world of ice-dependent

species such as the ivory gull and polar bear. Even though the gulls known

breeding colonies in Canada are protected, scientists still consider the ivory gull endangered.

This white gull, like the white bear, represents an entire ecosystem at risk as the extent and the thickness of sea ice is decreasing.

There's more on our website at birdnote.org.

I'm Mary McCann.