Shiliuyun-Xinjiang Daily (Reporter Zhao Mei) news: Recently, a sabine's gull appeared on the Dujuan River in Korla City, Bayingolin Mongolian Autonomous Prefecture, northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, attracting many birdwatchers to watch.

The sabine's gulls mainly inhabit the coasts and islands of the Arctic Ocean, as well as the coasts of the Eurasian continent and North America. Every autumn and winter, they migrate southward from their breeding grounds to France, Japan and so on. During migration, they occasionally went to inland rivers. This bird likes to live in groups and forages along the coastline.

Gou Jun, director of the Volunteer Committee of Xinjiang Wild Plant Conservation Association, introduced that sabine's gull is an uncommon winter migratory bird in China and a bird losing its way (a migratory bird that deviates from its own migration route) in Xinjiang. Previously, it had appeared in the northeast, east China and southeast coastal areas of China, as well as in Shanxi, Hunan, Qinghai, Xizang and other places in China. " Sabine's gull was first recorded by a Xinjiang birdwatcher in January 2016, and this is the second time that it has appeared in Xinjiang."

In recent days, birdwatchers from Urumqi, Shihezi, Altay City and other places in Xinjiang have come to the Dujuan River to watch sabine's gull. "The riverside is much more lively than usual as more than ten photographers and tourists gather there every day," Liu Zheqing, a birdwatcher in Korla City said.

Even though there were many kinds of birds together, such as larus argentatus and wild ducks, Wang Rui, a birdwatcher in Shihezi City was able to identify it at a glance. “It was larger, a big mouth and brown feathers, looking imposing when standing there.” According to its appearance, it should be a subadult bird born this year. This sabine's gull is a new comer to the city and may not have adapted well to the "lively" urban environment. When competing for food with water birds such as swans, larus argentatus and wild ducks, it appeared a bit disadvantaged. " Every time tourists fed it, it moved slower than other water birds. So it rarely got nang to eat."

Liu Zheqing said that in recent years, as Korla City has successively introduced protection measures and strengthened patrolling, more than ten kinds of birds would inhabit the Dujuan River every winter, including whooper swans, mallards, gadwall, ferruginous ducks, Mongolian larus argentatus, seagulls, caspian gulls and so on, with the number up to hundreds. These birds play and chase on the water and fly in the air, attracting many people to watch and take photos, showing a beautiful ecological landscape in Korla City in winter.

It is understood that sabine's gulls are the larger gulls in the family of gulls. They are good at flying and are also skilled in race walking and diving. In addition to a wide variety of fish and shrimp, they also consume crustaceans, various aquatic vertebrates, invertebrates, and other foods. The sabine's gull was listed as a least-concern species (LC) on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species in 2012, and it is also listed as a wildlife species with important ecological, scientific, and social value in China.