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Sabine's Gull
Xema sabini
Audubon Illustration
John James Audubon, Birds of America (1827-1838). Public domain.
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About the Sabine's Gull
Sabine's gull ( SAY-bin; Xema sabini) is a small gull. It is usually treated as the only species placed in the genus Xema, though some authors include it with other gulls in a wide view of the genus Larus. It has also been known historically as fork-tailed gull or xeme (from the genus name). It breeds in colonies on Arctic coasts and tundra, laying two or three spotted olive-brown eggs in a ground nest lined with grass. Sabine's gull is pelagic outside the breeding season. It takes a wide variety of mainly animal food, and will eat any suitable small prey.
Source: Wikipedia
Classification
- Scientific name
- Xema sabini
- Family
- Gulls, Terns, and Skimmers
- Order
- Charadriiformes
Similar species
Other members of the gulls, terns, and skimmers family recorded in North America — a useful place to start if you are not certain of your identification.
- Aleutian Tern Onychoprion aleuticus
- American Herring Gull Larus smithsonianus
- Arctic Tern Sterna paradisaea
- Belcher's Gull Larus belcheri
- Black Noddy Anous minutus
- Black Skimmer Rynchops niger
- Black Tern Chlidonias niger
- Black-headed Gull Chroicocephalus ridibundus
- Black-legged Kittiwake Rissa tridactyla
- Black-tailed Gull Larus crassirostris
- Blue-billed White-Tern Gygis candida
- Blue-gray Noddy Anous ceruleus
Know when the Sabine's Gull turns up near you
How rare bird alerts work →Gear for spotting Sabine's Gull
Optics
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Cameras
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