Sabine's gull
| Sabine's gull | |
|---|---|
| Adult in Iceland | |
| NonBreeding plumage, Cape Canaveral, Florida | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota | 
| Kingdom: | Animalia | 
| Phylum: | Chordata | 
| Class: | Aves | 
| Order: | Charadriiformes | 
| Family: | Laridae | 
| Genus: | Xema Leach, 1819 | 
| Species: | X. sabini | 
| Binomial name | |
| Xema sabini | |
| Range   Breeding   Migration   Non-breeding | |
Sabine's gull (/ˈseɪbaɪn/ SAY-bine or /ˈsæbaɪn/ SAB-ine) (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.