Sabine's Gull
Any photo of Sabine's Gull is a prize, and I know I have taken better shots of them, but I quite liked the blurred tundra background and the harsh light as it was a bit different. It breeds all around the Arctic but is one of Svalbard's rarest birds with just a handful of breeding pairs. It was first discovered on an island off West Greenland on 25th July 1818 by 29 year old Edward Sabine, who was a scientist on the John Ross expedition that attempted, but failed to discover the Northwest passage. Edward sent several specimens of the gull to his older brother Joseph in London via a homeward bound whaling ship. There are strict rules that prevent anyone from naming animals or plants after themselves, but Joseph Sabine bent this rule almost to breaking point when he named it Sabine's Gull "Larus Sabini" after his brother Edward. It differed so much from any other known gull that William Leach (of Leach's Petrel fame) later placed it by itself in a new genus Xema, which was a meaningless, made-up name by Leach who was running out of ideas for new names.
Sabine's Gull
Any photo of Sabine's Gull is a prize, and I know I have taken better shots of them, but I quite liked the blurred tundra background and the harsh light as it was a bit different. It breeds all around the Arctic but is one of Svalbard's rarest birds with just a handful of breeding pairs. It was first discovered on an island off West Greenland on 25th July 1818 by 29 year old Edward Sabine, who was a scientist on the John Ross expedition that attempted, but failed to discover the Northwest passage. Edward sent several specimens of the gull to his older brother Joseph in London via a homeward bound whaling ship. There are strict rules that prevent anyone from naming animals or plants after themselves, but Joseph Sabine bent this rule almost to breaking point when he named it Sabine's Gull "Larus Sabini" after his brother Edward. It differed so much from any other known gull that William Leach (of Leach's Petrel fame) later placed it by itself in a new genus Xema, which was a meaningless, made-up name by Leach who was running out of ideas for new names.