Sabine's Gull (Xema sabini)
About the Sabine's Gull
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. Sabine's gull is pelagic outside the breeding season. It takes a wide variety of mainly animal food, and will eat any suitable small prey.
A real field recording of the Sabine's Gull. Press play and focus on the rhythm and pitch of each phrase.
Listen
Our streaming copies are mirrored from the original xeno-canto file and transcoded to 96 kbps mono — a modification, so we note it here; the licence for each recording is named in its credit below.
1 recording on this page · licensed Public Domain / CC0 ×1 · mirrored on this server, free for commercial reuse · recorded in France, Norway, United Kingdom, United States · xeno-canto lists 22 recordings for this species in total.
Other birds in this region
- Arctic TernSterna paradisaearecording
- Bar-tailed GodwitLimosa lapponicarecording
- Barn SwallowHirundo rusticarecording
- Black-headed GullChroicocephalus ridibundusrecording
- Black-legged KittiwakeRissa tridactylarecording
- BluethroatLuscinia svecicarecording
These are the birds recorded alongside it, not close relatives — the site holds no other member of its genus or family yet.