Bird Lore: Sabine’s Gull

The Sabine’s Gull is a common migrant off the West Coast but is rare inland. When seen in Puget Sound, it is usually September and early October. There have been several sightings on the Edmonds waterfront over the years of both adult and juvenile birds. The tricolored pattern of the wings is distinctive and should be noticeable even to a nonbirder if the gull flies in close enough to shore. Examples of a couple of rare inland sightings include an adult in breeding plumage in September 2024 at McNary National Wildlife Refuge in Walla Walla County and a juvenile at the Cedar River mouth in Renton in October 2016. In late May 2022 an Edmonds ferry rider photographed a migrating flock of 26 Sabine’s Gulls northbound in Snohomish County waters.

Sabine’s Gull is a high arctic breeder around the world and winters in coastal upwelling zones in the Tropics and Subtropics. This gull is named for Sir Edward Sabine, an Irish astronomer, geophysicist and explorer, who discovered it for Western science, taking a specimen at Melville Bay, Greenland, in 1818. It will eventually receive a new common name as the American Ornithological Society (AOS) has begun the process of eliminating honorific common names for birds across the Americas. As explained in Wikipedia:

“In October 2023, the AOS announced that it was set to rename all bird species associated with individuals, aiming to eliminate names linked to figures with racist pasts. Aiming for more descriptive names based on habitat or physical features, the renaming process would involve public input. Over 100 avian species across the Americas would undergo this change, with the move eliciting mixed reactions within the birding community.”

It is possible that this gull will end up with two common names, one for the Western Hemisphere via the AOS renaming protocols and its original common name for the rest of the world.

Diet includes “snow spiders,” copepods, aquatic and land beetles, midges, craneflies, and small fishes such as young Pacific herrings. During the breeding season, Sabine’s Gulls forage for aquatic insects on freshwater ponds and lakes and secondarily on rivers, tidal lagoons, and mud flats at low tide. When this gull first arrives on its breeding grounds, it will also feed in grass or on snow banks and occasionally hawks in the air. In Alaska this gull sometimes flies long distances from its nesting colonies to forage in specific deep-water lakes. After the breeding season, Sabine’s Gulls move to the ocean where they forage on beaches and coastal marine waters. During fall migration along the Pacific Coast, when this gull can be seen occasionally in Puget Sound, it forages on the water’s surface in a fashion similar to that of phalaropes. It twists its body quickly from side to side or twirls around as it plucks prey off the surface. On its wintering grounds in South America and southern Africa this gull forages in coastal upwellings and when following fishing boats.

Sabine’s Gulls usually arrive at their Alaska breeding colonies from late May to early June when tundra is snow-covered. Research on the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta indicates that these gulls either pair up at sea during spring migration or pair up very quickly upon arrival at the breeding grounds. They immediately begin nest building. The nest site is on open ground. The nest itself is a shallow depression either unlined or lined with feathers, seaweed, and moss. There are usually two eggs, incubated by both adults, for 23-25 days. The adults defend the nest by distraction display to try to lead predators away or by dive-bombing would-be intruders. Shortly after hatching, the adults lead the chicks to an area near water where they mostly feed themselves.

Among gulls the Sabine’s Gull is considered aberrant for several reasons. It is only one of two gulls that have black bills with yellow tips. It is the only member of its genus, Xema. It displays behaviors that are similar to shorebirds such as distraction display (think about the broken wing display of Killdeers) and feeding method on mud flats. It is also somewhat similar to terns in its call, its flight pattern, and its flight development long before the chick is fully feathered.

The most common collective nouns for any group of gulls are a colony, a flock, and a scavenging of gulls. The oldest known Sabine’s Gull was at least 8 years and one month of age when it was captured and re-released in an Alaska banding operation.

Population trends for the Sabine’s Gull are not known, though Partners in Flight estimates a global breeding population of about 340,000. The species has a rating of low conservation concern but it is vulnerable to pesticide contamination, oil spills and climate change.

You can listen to calls of a Sabine’s Gull here: https://xeno-canto.org/406448.

— By Carol Riddell