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Species › Birds

Sabine’s Gull

Xema sabini

Order
Charadriiformes
Family
Laridae
Presence in the Strait
Vagrant
IUCN (global)
LC · Least concern
In Spanish
Gaviota de Sabine

Photograph: tomoeoo, CC0, vía iNaturalist

Length
27–32 cm
Wingspan
80–87 cm
Weight
190 g
020406080100LENGTH27–32 cmWINGSPAN80–87 cmcentimetres

Presence in the Strait

Accidental. Two young birds on 28.02.89 at Los Lances beach.

Identification

Very similar to a Kittiwake but smaller and with a notched tail. In winter adults have a blackish nape and hindneck, black bill with yellow tip and white tail. In flight, black primaries, white secondaries forming a triangle with the apex of the wing-bend, and grey coverts, mantle and back. Juveniles have dull-grey scaled upperparts, plain dull-grey crown, ear coverts and breast-sides, and a dusky-black bill; in flight, like adults but with a black terminal tail-band. They breed in Siberia and North America. Laridae Gaviota Cana juv.1º inv ad.W Gaviota Tridáctila juv.1º inv ad.W

Bioestrecho editorial text. Last revised: 8 September 2026.

Gallery

Photographs from iNaturalist observations with the licence checked file by file. Those marked “Strait” were taken within the area; place and date are those of each observation.