Sabine's Gull

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Sabine's Gull
Adult in summer plumage
Adult in summer plumage
Conservation status
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Charadriiformes
Family: Laridae
Genus: Xema
Leach, 1819
Species: X. sabini
Binomial name
Xema sabini
(Sabine, 1819, Sabine islands, near Melville Bay, west coast of Greenland)

The Sabine's Gull is a small gull. Its generic placement is disputed; some authors treat it as the sole species in the genus Xema as Xema sabini,[1] while others retain it in the genus Larus as Larus sabini.[2][3] It breeds in the arctic and has a circumpolar distribution through northernmost North America and Eurasia. It migrates south in autumn; most of the population winters at sea in the Pacific off western South America in the cold waters of the Humboldt Current, while Greenland and eastern Canadian birds cross the Atlantic by way of the westernmost fringes of Europe to winter off southwest Africa in the cold waters of the Benguela Current. Occasionally individual Sabine's Gulls can be seen off other coasts such as the northeastern United States or further east in Europe, typically following autumn storms.[1][4]

This species is easy to identify through its striking wing pattern. The adult had a pale grey back and wing coverts, black primary flight feathers and white secondaries. The white tail is forked. The male's hood darkens during breeding season. Their bills are black with a yellow tip. Young birds have a similar tricoloured wing pattern, but the grey is replaced by brown, and the tail has a black terminal band. The juveniles take two years to attain full adult plumage. They have a very high-pitched and squeaking call.[2]

The Sabine's Gull breeds in colonies on coasts and tundra, laying two or three spotted olive-brown eggs in a ground nest lined with grass. It is very pelagic outside the breeding season. It takes a wide variety of mainly animal food, and will eat any suitable small prey. It also steals eggs from nesting colonies of Arctic Terns.[1]

This bird was named after the English scientist Sir Edward Sabine by his brother Joseph Sabine.

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c del Hoyo, J., et al. (1998). Handbook of the Birds of the World 3: 621. Lynx Edicions ISBN 84-87334-20-2.
  2. ^ a b Snow, D. W. & Perrins, C. M. (1998). The Birds of the Western Palearctic Concise Edition. OUP ISBN 0-19-854099-X.
  3. ^ Hagemeijer, W. J. M., & Blair, M. J., eds. (1997). The EBCC Atlas of European Breeding Birds. Poyser, London ISBN 0-85661-091-7.
  4. ^ Bull, John; Farrand, Jr., John (April 1984). The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Birds, Eastern Region. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 0-394-41405-5.