82 SHANNON & McKEAN AUSTRALIAN

BIRD WATCHER

First Record of Sabine's Gull X ema sabini from Australia

By GEORGE SHANNON* and JOHN L. McKEANt

During the course of photographic studies of feeding Reef Egrets Egretta sacra in Darwin Harbour during April 1982, a small Gull of uncertain identity was seen on several occasions by George Shannon and James Hancock. Some photographs were taken at the time, and later the identity of the Gull was discussed with John McKean.

On 14 April 1982 the Gull was located near the Stokes Hill Wharf, Darwin, N.T., and viewed to advantage by Shannon, Hancock, McKean and W. R. Mason. McKean's field description follows:

A very small Gull, white below with a grey mantle. Stood much shorter than Silver Gull Larus novaehollandiae and considered to be less than half their bulk. The bill was short, almost skua-like in shape, black with a yellow tip and the legs were dull yellowish. The tail, which had a ragged appearance suggesting moult, was forked and white, while the black of the primaries showed as a black band along the leading edge of the closed wing; auriculars and occiput, greyish brown. The characteristic broad white wing patch in flight extended along the trailing edge of the upper wing as a wedge to the leading wing joint where it met the black triangular patch of the primaries. This wing pattern was sketched and was identical to the illustration by Heinzel (pl. 39) in Tuck (1980) . According to the data given by Dwight (1925) and Grant (1982) the bird was judged to be moulting from first-winter to first-summer plumage; it retained two or three old, unmoulted, juvenile outer primaries (lacking the white tips as on adult primaries), and had new, adult-like, inner five or six primaries of first-summer plumage. Although initially appearing fairly healthy, by 14 April the bird appeared sick with a fluffed up posture and was laboured and hesitant in flight when flushed. Despite subsequent intensive searches the bird was not rediscovered and it seems possible that it died.

Sabine's Gull breeds in the high Arctic, one population migrating south to winter off the West African coast and the other migrating to winter off the west coast of South America. Being highly pelagic and migratory, it is surprising that a wind-swept vagrant had not previously been reported from Australia. The Darwin bird presumably originated from the eastern Pacific population; however, the species has recently

* Oak Tree House, 265 Hythe Road, Willesborough, Ashford Kent TN24 OQB, England.

t Conservation Commission of the Northern Territory, PO Box 38496, Winnellie, N.T. 5789.

VOL. 10 (3) SEPTEMBER 1983 First Record of Sabine's Gull from Australia

Sabine's Gull Xema sabini, Darwin Harbour, N.T., April 1982.

83

Plate 25 Photo: James Hancock

been reported from Marion Island in the south-western Indian Ocean (Sinclair 1981), so an origin hom the Atlantic population cannot be positively dismissed.

Acknowledgements David Eades and Peter Grant kindly made comments on a draft of

this paper.

References Dwight, J. (1925), 'The Gulls (Laridae) of the World; their plumages, moults,

variations, relationships and distribution, Bull. A.M.N .H . vol. 52, 63-406. Grant, P. J. (1982), Gulls: a guide to identification , T . & A . D. Poyser, Calton , U.K. Sinclair, J. C. (1981) , 'Eight previously unreported seabirds at Marion Island, Indian

Ocean', Ardea 69, 217-218. Tuck, G. S. (1980), 'A field guide to the Seabirds of Australia and the World ' ,

Collins, Sydney. •