These delicate little gulls normally spend their whole lives in the far north, above the tree line; very few of their nests have ever been seen, and because they winter north of the tundra in the Arctic Ocean, little is known about their life in that season. Their rarity and the mystery surrounding them, along with their beauty, makes them among the most cherished avian sightings.

So this bird, discovered by Donald Pendleton on January 12, 2017 in Half Moon Bay, California, generated a great stir among birders in the area and beyond for that day and the next two. On the morning of Saturday, January 14, I was one of many able to view and photograph the gull in good light as it foraged in a Brussels sprout field across Hwy 1 from the Half Moon Bay airport, intermittently flying among the small ponds left in the field by recent rains.

In early afternoon, after I had left, onlookers were stunned to see the gull taken in flight by a Peregrine Falcon; so ended the life of this remarkable little bird. These photographs and the many others captured that day serve as the final record of its presence among us.