Sabine's Gull

Xema sabini

Order CHARADRIIFORMES - Family LARIDAE - Subfamily Larinae

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1. Cool Facts
2. Description
3. Sound
4. Range
5. Habitat
6. Food
7. Behavior
8. Reproduction
9. Conservation Status
10. Other Names

An unusual and distinctive arctic gull that breeds at high latitudes but winters near the tropics. A striking gull in all plumages with a bold upper wing pattern, long pointed wings, a notched tail, and a short black bill with a yellow tip.

Cool Facts

• Most yearling Sabine's Gulls do not attempt to breed and do not return to the breeding grounds. Their summer home is still relatively unknown.

• Although most Sabine's Gulls migrate along the coasts or at sea, some migrate directly north-south, directly across North America.

• The only member of its genus, the Sabine's Gull is like no other gull. Many of its behaviors resemble those of terns more than gulls.

Description

• Size: 34 cm (13 in)
• Weight: 155-213 g (5.47-7.52 ounces)

• Wings show bold pattern of black, white, and gray triangles in flight.
• Tail notched.
• Bill black with yellow tip.

Breeding (Alternate) plumage: Dark gray head with narrow black edge at back. Back a dark pearl-gray. Black wing feathers boldly tipped with white. White body and neck. Tail slightly notched. In flight the upper wing shows pattern of three triangles: a thin black triangle of the outer primaries, a broad white triangle of the inner primaries and secondaries, and a gray triangle of the coverts connecting onto the back. Bill black with yellow tip. Legs and feet blackish. Eyes dark.
Winter (Basic) plumage: Crown white. Suggestion of a partial gray hood.

Sex Differences

Sexes alike in plumage, male slightly larger than female.

Immature

Juvenile plumage: Grayish-brown wash on crown, nape, and sides of breast. Forehead, lower cheeks, and throat white. Brownish back and upper wing coverts, with scaled appearance. Outer primaries black and narrowly edged with white. Rump and tail white. Tail with black band on tip, broadest in center, which accentuates the notched shape. Bill dark or black. Legs and feet dull grayish pink. Bold wing pattern of three triangles like adult, but base of wing and back brown.
First winter plumage: Like juvenal, but with gray back and scapulars instead of brown, contrasting with brown wings. Crown whiter and with brownish gray patches on hind neck.

Sound

Chirping, groaning, and rattling that resemble calls of terns more than gulls.

Range

Summer Range

Breeds in coastal west and north Alaska eastward across Canada to northern Hudson's Bay and Greenland. Also breeds in Siberia.

Winter Range

Winters at sea in subtropical and tropical upwelling zones, such as off western Central and South America and western Africa.

Habitat

• Nests on moist tundra ground, usually near fresh water. Feeds primarily in fresh water or on land.
• Migrates and winters primarily offshore.

Food

In breeding season eats aquatic insects. In winter eats zooplankton, crustaceans, fishes.

Behavior

Foraging

Takes food from surface of water, usually while flying.

Other Behavior

Frequently robbed of food by jaegers, both on the breeding grounds and at sea.

Reproduction

Nest Type

Depression in vegetation, rarely with lining.

Egg Description

Slightly pointed. Rich olive-green with darker greenish-brown, irregular markings.

Clutch Size

Usually 3 eggs. Range: 1-4.

Condition at Hatching

Chicks semi-precocial at hatching; may leave nest cup at one day old, typically stay on platform for several days. Covered in cryptically colored down.

Conservation Status

Not a species of concern in America because their relatively large populations breed away from human disturbance. But their habitat makes them somewhat vulnerable to oil pollution.

Other Names

Mouette de Sabine (French)
Gaviota de Sabine (Spanish)

Sources used to construct this page:

Day, R. H., I. J. Stenhouse, and H. G. Gilchrist. Sabine's Gull (Xema sabini). In The Birds of North America, No. 593 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Birds of North America, Inc., Philadelphia, PA.