CALIPATRIA, Calif., Nov. 24 (UPI) -- Bird watchers at California's Salton Sea recently witnessed a rare find: a Ross's gull that flew a few hundred miles further south than normal.
The white gull is an arctic bird, breeding primarily in Siberia or Greenland that the winters in northern Alaska. So a Ross's gull in Salton Sea, near Calipatria, was unusual, the Los Angeles Times said.
Guy McCaskie, co-author of "Birds of Salton Sea," said he spotted the bird as he glanced out his car window. Because of the rarity of a Ross's gull in California -- this would be the first recorded sighting -- he wanted documentation that was uncontested.
After calling several local birders, McCaskie got his wish. Bird watchers began arriving to capture the gull on film as it foraged for food in the muck of Salton Sea, the largest inland body of water on the Pacific flyway, or path, of birds migrating south for the winter.
After a few days at the California location, the bird took off.
