Xema sabini

The Great Salt Lake has turned up another rare vagrant: Sabine's gull. It is an unusual and distinctive Arctic gull usually found in far-northern latitudes during breeding season and in the tropics during winter. If it decides to stay here, it may be a sign of warmer times for Utah this winter.

It is a striking gull in its breeding plumage with a bold upper wing pattern, long pointed wings, a notched tail and a short black bill with a yellow tip.

The bird above, photographed along the Antelope Island causeway, shows its winter plumage. It has a white crown and a partial gray hood. The wings are sharply marked with triangles of black and white. The white-gray tail has a black terminal band.

Sabine's gulls are small at 13 inches and only weigh 5-7 ounces. This bird is following a north-south route directly across North America rather than the normal coastal route.

Yearling Sabine's gulls do not usually breed and wander the oceans outside of the Arctic summer breeding area, which stretches from the coastal west and north Alaska westward into Siberia and eastward across Canada to northern Hudson's Bay and Greenland.

Normally, this bird would winter at sea in subtropical and tropical upwelling zones, such as off western Central and South America and western Africa, feeding on fish, crustaceans and zooplankton. Sabine's gulls are frequently robbed of food by jaegers that chase them until the gulls drop food they have picked up. The Great Salt Lake's brine shrimp should keep this Sabine's gull satisfied should it choose to remain here for the winter.

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* BILL FENIMORE is owner of the Layton Wild Bird Center. Join the Wild Bird Center for its sixth anniversary celebration Oct. 13. Call 801-525-8400 or visit www.wildbird.com/layton for more details.