Sabine's Gull
(Xema sabini)

Overview

Summary

© Glen Tepke (www.pbase.com/gtepke)
For additional photos and vocalizations, visit Dendroica. (Link opens in a new window.)

The small and graceful Sabine's Gull breeds across much of the Canadian Arctic, but is most abundant in the east. Repeated surveys of the Foxe Basin, a stronghold of the population, have confirmed that the species remains abundant there. However, data are insufficient for an assessment of range-wide trends in population abundance. The species' population status in Canada relative to about 1970 remains unknown.

Designations

Population status

Population estimate

Distribution maps

• BirdLife International / NatureServe

Migration strategy, occurrence

Responsibility for conservation of world population

Conservation and management

The species appears to be less abundant than once believed in the Western Canadian Arctic, and it is unclear whether this reflects historic declines or incorrect information about their former abundance (Day et al. 2001). An improved understanding of the Canadian population's abundance and distribution is needed in order to better assess the threats these birds face across their range.

Bird conservation region strategies

Environment and Climate Change Canada and partners have developed Bird Conservation Region Strategies in each of Canada’s Bird Conservation Regions (BCRs). In these strategies, selected species are identified as priorities for one or more of the following reasons:

• conservation concerns (i.e., species vulnerable due to population size, distribution, population trend, abundance, or threats)
• stewardship responsibilities (i.e., species that typify the regional avifauna or have a large proportion of their range or population in the sub-region)
• management concerns (i.e., species that require ongoing management because of their socio-economic importance as game species, or because of their impacts on other species or habitats)
• other concerns (i.e., species deemed a priority by regional experts for other reasons than those listed above or because they are listed as species at risk or concern at the provincial level)

Select any of the sub-regions below to view the BCR strategy for additional details.

References

• Day, R.H., I.J. Stenhouse and H.G. Gilchrist. 2001. Sabine's Gull (Xema sabini), The Birds of North America Online (A. Poole, Ed.). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Day, R.H., I.J. Stenhouse and H.G. Gilchrist. 2001. Sabine's Gull (Xema sabini), The Birds of North America Online (A. Poole, Ed.). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. (Link)
• Gaston, A.J., R. Decker, F.G. Cooch and A. Reed. 1986. The distribution of larger species of birds breeding on the coasts of Foxe Basin and Northern Hudson Bay, Canada. Arctic 39:285-296.
• Johnston, V.H. and S.T. Pepper. 2009. The birds of Prince Charles Island and Air Force Island, Foxe Basin, Nunavut. Canadian Wildlife Service Occasional Paper 117:1-56. Johnston, V.H. and S.T. Pepper. 2009. The birds of Prince Charles Island and Air Force Island, Foxe Basin, Nunavut. Canadian Wildlife Service Occasional Paper 117:1-56. (Link)