Sabine's Gull

Xema sabini

Forked tail and a wing pattern so striking it looks painted. Nests in the Arctic, winters in the southern oceans.

Population: Over 340,000 mature individuals; population trend stable (IUCN/BirdLife DataZone, 2015 estimate, current assessment)
Habitat: Breeds colonially on Arctic coastal tundra wetlands, river deltas and estuaries — swampy, moss-and-sedge tundra with many lakes and shallow brackish pools, and low-lying Arctic islands; highly pelagic outside the breeding season, favoring cold-water upwelling zones at sea
Fun fact: Sabine's Gull makes one of the longest migrations of any gull species, an annual round trip of roughly 32,000-39,000 km between its Arctic breeding grounds and cold-water upwelling zones off Peru or southwest Africa.
Range: Near-circumpolar Arctic breeder across northernmost North America and Eurasia; undertakes one of the longest migrations of any gull, a roughly 32,000-39,000 km annual round trip to winter in the Humboldt Current off Peru/Ecuador (Pacific populations) and the Benguela Current off southwest Africa (Atlantic populations)
Diet: Highly varied: terrestrial and aquatic insects (beetles, springtails, craneflies, midges, mosquitoes) on the breeding grounds, plus molluscs, crustaceans, and small fish at sea; occasionally takes eggs or nestlings of other birds
Size: 0.3 m
Wingspan: 0.84 m
Lifespan: 8 years

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