Sabine's Gull Identification

The Four Keys to ID

• Size & Shape

  A small, delicate gull with a small head and a slender, straight bill. It has long, pointed wings and a forked tail.

  Relative Size

  Larger than a Common Tern, smaller than a Ring-billed Gull.

  crow-sized

  Measurements

  • Both Sexes
• Color Pattern

  Breeding adults are white with a dark head (gray bordered in black) and a three-toned wing pattern. In flight, the upperwings are gray with a black triangle in the outer primaries and a white triangle along the trailing edge. Up close, breeding adults show a red eyering and a black bill with yellow tip. Nonbreeding adults have white speckles on the head and a dusky eyering. Juveniles are brown above, not gray, with pale feather edges that impart a scaly appearance; they have an all-black bill and a black tip to the tail.

• Behavior

  Often forages on the wing, over ocean and large rivers or lakes, with agile dips down to seize prey near the surface. In and around tundra ponds, Sabine's Gulls walk, wade, or swim to catch insects and larvae with the bill, sometimes using the feet to stir up prey. On mudflats, races around like a plover to capture worms or small crustaceans. Migrates and forages at sea in flocks.

• Habitat

  Nests on arctic and subarctic tundra in marshy areas, often with extensive mixtures of marshes, ponds, and lakes. Winters in the open ocean near areas of upwelling. Migrants sometimes appear far inland, where they usually seek rivers and lakes.