A gull of the Subarctic and Arctic, the Sabine’s Gull, with its distinctive plumage, commonlynests in the Alaskan Arctic, often in association with Arctic Terns (Sterna paradisaea). Thisspecies typically nests near fresh water in swampy low-lying tundra, in tidal marshes, and onsmall coastal islands (Day et al. 2001). During the breeding season, aquatic insects and otherinvertebrates are their most important food items (Day et al. 2001). Sabine’s Gulls spend theirwinters offshore primarily in subtropical and tropical coastal upwelling zones (Day et al. 2001).The northern Alaska population estimate is rarely surveyed extensively. Two surveys in 1996indicate a population somewhere between 6,000 and 10,000 (Day et al. 2001).
