Sabine's Gull (Xema sabini) is an unusual Arctic gull with a shallowly forked tail and a striking, three-part wing pattern, seen almost annually in Sweden as a rare autumn passage migrant. It is a small, delicate gull, 27–33 cm long with a wingspan of around 81–87 cm and a weight of 135–225 g. In adult summer plumage it shows a dark grey-black head bordered by a thin black ring and a black bill tipped with yellow, but the most diagnostic feature is the wing's clearly three-part pattern from above — black outer primaries, a white triangle across the inner wing, and a grey panel of median coverts. The tail is shallowly forked, unusual among gulls, and young birds are scaled grey-brown above but show the same characteristic three-part wing pattern, making them identifiable even at a distance. The species is largely silent when resting in Sweden, though at its Arctic colonies it gives a whining, somewhat rattling call.
Sabine's Gull breeds in the high Arctic, in northernmost North America and across Eurasia including Spitsbergen, nesting on the ground in damp, vegetated tundra, often in loose colonies near the coast; it winters far out at sea, in the North Pacific and off southwest Africa in the southeast Atlantic. It does not breed in Sweden and occurs only as a rare passage migrant, mainly in September and October, when single birds up to a few dozen appear along the coasts, typically found on the west coast after strong westerly or northerly winds drive seabirds toward land. At sea it feeds on small fish, crustaceans and plankton picked from the surface, and also takes insects on its breeding grounds. The best chance of finding one is at an exposed headland after a spell of hard onshore wind, at classic sites such as Falsterbo, Kullaberg, Måkläppen and the southern tip of Öland — a prized find among seabird watchers.
Read about this species in Swedish →