Birds of the World

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Black-bellied Tern (Sterna acuticauda) Endangered Range: OR: inland Indus Valley (Pakistan), sub-Himalayan India and Irrawaddy (=Ayeyarwady) River, c Myanmar; formerly to s China and Vietnam


River Tern (Sterna aurantia) Vulnerable Range: OR: rivers of Indus Valley (c Pakistan), sub-Himalayan India, nw, c Myanmar, sw China, to se Cambodia (formerly s Vietnam) Chambal River, MP, India
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Roseate Tern (Sterna dougallii dougallii) Range: Worldwide: patchily temperate to tropical Atlantic, tropical Indian, and subtropical to tropical w Pacific to Vanuatu Parguera, Lajas, Puerto Rico Image credit: USFWS/Alcides Morales.
Photograph by U.S. Government employee (see below) Copyright and usage info This image is a work of a National Science Foundation employee, taken or made during the course of the person's official duties. As a work of the U.S. federal government, the image is in the public domain.

A typical tern with a long tail. Overall very white with roseate color on belly virtually impossible to see, or not present at all.


Forster's Tern (Sterna forsteri) Range: NA, MA: inland c Alberta to c Manitoba (sc Canada) patchily to California and n Baja California (nw Mexico), Colorado, and the Great Lakes; coastal w North Atlantic from New Jersey to North Carolina; Gulf of Mexico coast from Alabama to n Tamaulipas (ne Mexico) Beaumaris Lake, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada Breeding Forster's Tern resemble breeding Common Terns.
Photograph by dfaulder Copyright and usage info This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 3.0 License. In short: you are free to share and make derivative works of the file under the conditions that you appropriately attribute it, and that you distribute it only under a license identical to this one.


Forster's Tern (Sterna forsteri) Range: NA, MA: inland c Alberta to c Manitoba (sc Canada) patchily to California and n Baja California (nw Mexico), Colorado, and the Great Lakes; coastal w North Atlantic from New Jersey to North Carolina; Gulf of Mexico coast from Alabama to n Tamaulipas (ne Mexico) Non-breeding Forster's Tern's are easy to identify because of the black mask. Photo Credit: Rinus Baak/USFWS.
Photograph by U.S. Government employee (see below) Copyright and usage info This image is a work of a National Science Foundation employee, taken or made during the course of the person's official duties. As a work of the U.S. federal government, the image is in the public domain.


South American Tern (Sterna hirundinacea) Range: SA: coastal s Peru and Espiritu Santo (ec Brazil) to Tierra del Fuego, Cape Horn is. and Falkland Is. Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego province, Argentina Note red legs and bill on adult and relative large size.
Photograph by Tropical Birding (Nick Athanas) © All Rights Reserved.


Common Tern (Sterna hirundo) Range: PAL, NA: widespread, subarctic, temperate, and locally tropical Northern Hemisphere Delta Dunaja, Vadu, Romania
Photograph by Andrej Chudy Copyright and usage info This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported. In short: you are free to share the file for commercial or non-commercial purposes under the conditions that you appropriately attribute it, and that you distribute it only under a license identical to this one. If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you may not distribute the modified material.


Common Tern (Sterna hirundo hirundo) Range: PAL, NA: widespread, subarctic, temperate, and locally tropical Northern Hemisphere Jones Beach SP, Nassau County, New York, United States
Photograph by Graham Montgomery © All Rights Reserved.

In breeding plumage looks like a Forster's Tern, with black cap and orange and black bill. Look for black in the wings on the Common Tern, seen on some tips here. The Common Tern has a black bill in non-breeding plumage, and unlike other terns is often far out at sea, and not on the beach.


Arctic Tern (Sterna paradisaea) Range: PAL, NA: widespread Arctic and subarctic coasts and inland, from Greenland, Iceland and British Isles to ne Siberia, Sakhalin and Kamchatka (e Russia), Aleutian Is., Alaska mainland through Arctic and subarctic Canada to James Bay, se Canada and New York Farne Island, England
Photograph by Francesco Veronesi Copyright and usage info This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 Unported. In short: you are free to share and make derivative works of the file for non-commercial purposes under the conditions that you appropriately attribute it, and that you distribute it only under a license identical to this one.

Known for having the one of the longest migrations in the animal kingdom, from the northern arctic to Antarctica.

White-cheeked Tern (Sterna repressa)
Range: AF, PAL: coastal Kenya to Persian Gulf, Red Sea and coastal Pakistan
Kuwait

Photograph by Mohd Khorshed Copyright and usage info


White-fronted Tern (Sterna striata) Near Threatened Range: AU: coasts and satellites of North, South, Stewart, Chatham (e of South I.) and Auckland is. (s of South I.; New Zealand); also (few) Furneaux group, e Bass Strait is. (Australia) Thames Coast, New Zealand
Photograph by Aftab on Flickr Copyright and usage info This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 Unported. In short: you are free to share and make derivative works of the file for non-commercial purposes under the conditions that you appropriately attribute it, and that you distribute it only under a license identical to this one.


White-fronted Tern (Sterna striata) Near Threatened Range: AU: coasts and satellites of North, South, Stewart, Chatham (e of South I.) and Auckland is. (s of South I.; New Zealand); also (few) Furneaux group, e Bass Strait is. (Australia) Ashley Estuary, New Zealand
Photograph by Andrej Chudy Copyright and usage info This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported. In short: you are free to share the file for commercial or non-commercial purposes under the conditions that you appropriately attribute it, and that you distribute it only under a license identical to this one. If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you may not distribute the modified material.


Black-naped Tern (Sterna sumatrana) Range: AF, OR, AU: islands off tropical Indian and Pacific oceans from Seychelles to Cook Is. (e Polynesia) Changi, Malaysia
Photograph by Wokoti © All Rights Reserved.


Black-naped Tern (Sterna sumatrana) Range: AF, OR, AU: islands off tropical Indian and Pacific oceans from Seychelles to Cook Is. (e Polynesia) Changi, Malaysia
Photograph by Wokoti © All Rights Reserved.


Snowy-crowned Tern (Sterna trudeaui) Range: SA: coastal se Brazil and Uruguay to inland ec Argentina; coastal Aconcagua to Llanquihue provinces (c, sc Chile) Montevideo, Uruguay Note yellow bill tip. In breeding plumage the base of bill is red.
Photograph by Tom Friedel © All Rights Reserved.

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Kerguelen Tern (Sterna virgata) Near Threatened Range: IO: subantarctic islands of w, c South Indian Ocean: Crozet, Prince Edward, and Kerguelen is.


Antarctic Tern (Sterna vittata) Range: SO: widespread, subantarctic and Antarctic is., South Atlantic, South Indian, w South Pacific and Antarctic Pen. Western Cape, South Africa Migrates from Arctic to Antarctic.
Photograph by Graham Searll © All Rights Reserved.