Skimmers, Noddies, Terns, and Gulls
Sabine’s Gull
Xema sabini
- Family
- Skimmers, Noddies, Terns, and Gulls (Laridae)
- Order
- Charadriiformes
Overview
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.
Summary from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Range and habitat
Breeds patchily on Arctic coasts of Greenland, Svalbard, and Siberia eastward to Chukotka Peninsula, St. Lawrence Island, western and northern Alaska, and Arctic Canada; winters coastal and offshore waters of northern South America to northern Chile and western Africa from Angola to southern Africa.
Range description: AviList Global Avian Checklist.
Countries
- Austria
- Benin
- Canada
- Chile
- Colombia
- Costa Rica
- Côte d'Ivoire
- Cuba
- Denmark
- Dominica
- Ecuador
- El Salvador
- Gabon
- Germany
- Guatemala
- Guinea
- Guinea-Bissau
- Iran
- Ireland
- Italy
- Latvia
- Liberia
- Mauritania
- Mexico
- Morocco
- Mozambique
- Namibia
- Netherlands
- Nicaragua
- Nigeria
- Norway
- Panama
- Peru
- Poland
- Republic of the Congo
- Russia
- Senegal
- Sierra Leone
- Somalia
- South Africa
- Spain
- Sweden
- Switzerland
- United Kingdom
- United States
- Western Sahara
Sources and further reading
- Wikipedia: Sabine's gull
- eBird: sightings, maps and photos
- xeno-canto: sound recordings
- Birds of the World: full species account (subscription)
- BirdLife DataZone: status and threats
- IUCN Red List (threat status)
- AviList global checklist (taxonomy)
Last updated September 29, 2026.
