Yes, I can tell you exactly, precisely, accurately how many Ross’s gulls I’ve seen in my lifetime: one, on a wonderful morning in Maryland nearly thirty years ago.
It’s a happy memory, and one that makes it even more interesting to read accounts like this one, from the pen of Charles D. Brower at Barrow, Alaska:
I did get a good crack at the Ross gulls again this fall [1928]. One day, the 26th of September, they were around in thousands…. this fall I had them fried and roasted until I almost turned into a Ross Gull myself.
And what did these dainty dishes taste like? Chicken, right?
No:
They taste just as do the Golden Plover, and are just as fat in the fall.
