SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Yellowknife bird watchers were treated to a special sight last week when a new species of seagull flew into town.

A black-headed seagull (right) stands out among more common gulls found in the Northwest Territories at Rotary Park Oct. 8. This bird is the first black-headed gull ever to be recorded in the territory. - photo courtesy of Darlene Pagonis

A black-headed seagull, which stands out among the gulls that call Yellowknife home - not with a black head as its name would suggest, but with its bright red legs and beak - has been spotted numerous times at Rotary Park and has become the talk of the birding community.

"I've showed (a photo of) it to everybody at Tim Horton's and they think it's pretty unique," said Darlene Pagonis, whose first run-in with the new creature came last week.

Pagonis, who is retired, said she and her husband feed dogs and birds around Yellowknife a couple times every day and says in all her time living here, she's never seen anything like the eye-catching gull in Rotary Park.

"We were quite fascinated by this little guy," she said.

Members of NWT Birders, a bird enthusiast group on Facebook, have also been passing around pictures of the bird. Gary Maund, a member of the group, was at Rotary Park with a friend a week ago when he first saw the black-headed seagull. He said neither he nor his friend were sure of the type of bird they saw, so Maund snapped a picture and took it home to do some research.

"Black-headed gulls are mostly populated in Europe and a bit in Greenland," he explained.

"There have been reports in Newfoundland as well, but that's it."

Suzanne Carriere, a wildlife biologist with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (ENR), confirms this is the first recorded black-headed gull sighting ever in the territory.

She declined to comment further on how the bird may have gotten here, saying it's a "federal species."

Christine Roger, a spokesperson for Environment Canada, said this gull is far from its normal habitat of Europe, Asia and the north and west coasts of Africa and Arabia.

"They are a rare visitor to the North Atlantic coast of North America, with a few individuals recorded annually," she said in an e-mail statement.

Weledeh MLA Bob Bromley, a trained ornithologist with a PhD in biology, said he hasn't seen the bird himself, but it's "not unusual to see something unusual" during spring and fall.

He speculated the black-headed seagull could have made its way to Yellowknife a couple different ways.

"Weather systems are often a cause that will carry a bird off course and then, of course, a young bird could get separated from its home and mixed with a flock of a different species," he said.

According to Bromley, about six different types of seagulls make this region of the Northwest Territories their home.

"The herring gull is one of the largest and most common, followed by the California gull and the mew gull," he said.

"Probably more common nowadays are the ring-billed gulls and we also have rarely glaucous gulls, they are very large and are typically seen during migration during the spring and fall.

"And we do have the Bonaparte's gull and that's about it."

Ella Stinson, spokesperson for ENR, says wildlife enthusiasts can post animal or plant photos to the NWT Species Facebook group or bring a photo to any regional ENR office to get help identifying breeds or determine whether what they've found is a new species.

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