Birds of the World - Thalasseus


Cabot's Tern (Thalasseus acuflavidus) Range: NA, MA, SA: coastal Virginia to s Texas, Caribbean, French Guiana, e Brazil and Argentina Sanibel Island, Florida, USA
Photograph by Tom Friedel © All Rights Reserved.

A small tern, also called the Sandwich Tern (now the Old World species), with a black yellow-tipped bill.
Additional photo.

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West African Crested Tern (Thalasseus albididorsalis) Range: AF: coasts of Mauritania to Guinea (w Africa)

Found on the coasts of west Africa. Split from the Royal Tern.


Lesser Crested Tern (Thalasseus bengalensis torresii) Range: AF, OR, AU: disjunctly, coasts of sc Mediterranean, Indian Ocean and marginal seas, and n Australia Brisbane, Australia
Photograph by Bradley Hacker © All Rights Reserved.

Note longer thinner more orange bill than Greater Crested Tern, and uniform light grey on back of wings, rump and tail.


Greater Crested Tern (Thalasseus bergii) Immature Range: AU, OR, AF: coasts of sw Africa, North Indian Ocean and marginal seas, through Indonesian and Australian waters from far s Japan to e Polynesia
Photograph by benjamint444 (Wikipedia) Copyright and usage info Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts.

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Chinese Crested Tern (Thalasseus bernsteini) Critically Endangered Range: PAL: islands off Zhejiang and Fujian (e China coast)


Elegant Tern (Thalasseus elegans) Near Threatened Range: NA, MA: coastal e Pacific of sw California and Baja California and Gulf of California (nw Mexico) Morro Bay, California, United States A crested tern very similar to the Royal Tern, but slightly smaller and with a more pronounced crest.
Photograph by Alan Schmierer Image has been placed in the Public Domain.


Royal Tern (Thalasseus maximus) Range: NA, MA, SA: coastal w North Atlantic from Virginia to Florida, Gulf of Mexico to s Texas, Campeche Bank (ne Mexico), off n Honduras, through West Indies and off n Venezuela to French Guiana; s California, n Gulf of California to Sinaloa and Is. Tres Marias (off wc Me Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United States
Photograph by Tom Friedel © All Rights Reserved.

A large tern with a short crest. As with many terns, the cap is all black during breeding season.
Additional photo.


Sandwich Tern (Thalasseus sandvicensis) Range: PAL, AF: coastal nw to se Europe from British Isles and Baltic Sea to e Iberian Pen., Mediterranean, Black and e, s Caspian seas South Africa
Photograph by Graham Searll © All Rights Reserved.