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Genus Sterna
Little Tern - This bird breeds on the coasts and inland waterways of temperate and tropical Europe and Asia. It is strongly migratory, wintering in the subtropical and tropical oceans as far south as South Africa and Australia.
Sterna albostriata - The Black-fronted Tern also known as Sea Martin, Ploughboy, Inland Tern, Riverbed Tern or Tarapiroe, is a small tern generally found in or near bodies of fresh water in New Zealand and forages for freshwater fish, arthropods and worms. It has a predominantly grey plumage. Restricted to breeding in the eastern regions of South Island, it is declining and threatened by introduced mammals and birds.
Aleutian tern - The Aleutian Tern is a seabird of the tern family Sternidae.
Bridled tern - The Bridled Tern is a seabird of the tern family Sternidae. It is a bird of the tropical oceans. The Atlantic subspecies melanopters breeds in Mexico, the Caribbean and west Africa; other races occur around the Arabia and in Southeast Asia and Australasia, but the exact number of valid subspecies is disputed.
Least Tern - It is a small tern, 22–24 cm long, with a wingspan of 50 cm, and weighing 39–52 g. The upper parts are a fairly uniform pale gray, and the underparts white. The head is white, with a black cap and line through the eye to the base of the bill, and a small white forehead patch above the bill; in winter, the white forehead is more extensive, with a smaller and less sharply defined black cap. The bill is yellow with a small black tip in summer, all blackish in winter. The legs are yellowish. The wings are mostly pale gray, but with conspicuous black markings on their outermost primaries. In behavior, it flies over water with fast, jerky wingbeats and a distinctive hunchback appearance, with the bill pointing slightly downward.
River Tern - This species breeds from March to May in colonies in less accessible areas such as sandbanks in rivers. It nests in a ground scrape, often on bare rock or sand, and lays three greenish-grey to buff eggs, which are blotched and streaked with brown.
Damara Tern - The Damara Tern is a species of tern in the Sternidae family.
Lesser Crester Tern - The Lesser Crested Tern is a seabird of the tern family Sternidae. It breeds in subtropical coastal parts of the world mainly from the Red Sea across the Indian Ocean to the western Pacific, and Australia, with a significant population on the southern coast of the Mediterranean on two islands off the Libyan coast. Accidental breeding has also been reported in Italy and France. The Australian birds are probably sedentary, but other populations are migratory, wintering south to South Africa.
Crested Tern - The Greater Crested Tern has grey upperparts, white underparts, a yellow bill, and a shaggy black crest which recedes in winter. Its young have a distinctive appearance, with strongly patterned grey, brown and white plumage, and rely on their parents for food for several months after they have fledged. Like all members of the genus Thalasseus, the Greater Crested Tern feeds by plunge diving for fish, usually in marine environments; the male offers fish to the female as part of the courtship ritual.
Chinese Crested Tern - The Chinese Crested Tern is a seabird of the tern family Sternidae, closely related to Sandwich Tern T. sandvicensis and Lesser Crested Tern T. bengalensis. It is most similar to the former, differing only in the bill pattern, which is the reverse of the Sandwich Tern's, being yellow with a black tip. From Lesser Crested Tern, which it overlaps in wintering distribution, it can be told by the white rump and paler grey mantle, as well as the black tip to the bill, which seen from up close also has a white point. The larger Greater Crested Tern is also similar, differing in the stouter, all-yellow bill and darker grey mantle and rump, as well as in size.
Caspian Tern - It is the world's largest tern with a length of 48–56 cm, a wingspan of 127–140 cm and a weight of 574–782g.
Roseate Tern - S. d. dougallii breeds on the Atlantic coasts of Europe and North America, and winters south to the Caribbean and west Africa. Both the European and North American populations have been in long term decline, though active conservation measures have reversed the decline in the last few years at some colonies.
Elegant Tern - The Elegant Tern is a seabird of the tern family Sternidae. It breeds on the Pacific coasts of the southern USA and Mexico and winters south to Peru, Ecuador and Chile.
Forster - This species is rare but annual in western Europe, and has wintered in Ireland and Great Britain on a number of occasions. No European tern winters so far north.
Sooty Tern - Onychoprion fuscata Sterna fuscata Linnaeus, 1766 Sterna fuscata fuscata Linnaeus, 1766 Sterna fuscata nubilosa and see text
South American Tern - The South American Tern is a species of tern found in coastal regions of southern South America, including the Falkland Islands, ranging north to Peru and Brazil . It is generally the commonest tern in its range. It closely resembles the smaller, highly migratory Common Tern.
Common Tern - This medium-sized tern is 34-37 cm long with a 70-80 cm wingspan. It is most readily confused within its range with the similar Arctic Tern , Roseate Tern , Antarctic Tern and South American Tern .
Chilean Tern - The Peruvian Tern is a species of tern in the Sternidae family. It is found in northern Chile, Ecuador, and Peru. Its natural habitats are hot deserts, sandy shores, and coastal saline lagoons. It is threatened by habitat loss.
Spectacled Tern - The Grey-backed Tern, Onychoprion lunatus, is a seabird in the tern family. A close relative of the Bridled and Sooty Terns , the Grey-backed Tern is less common than the other members of its genus and is has been studied less. The three species, along with the Aleutian Tern were recently split into a new genus Onychoprion from Sterna . They resemble the Sooty Tern but with a grey back instead of a black one. Their breast and underparts are white, and the have a black eye line from the bill to the back of the head which gives them their other name, the Spectacled Tern.
Royal tern - The Royal Tern is a seabird in the tern family Sternidae. This bird has two distinctive subspecies.
Fairy Tern - The Fairy Tern is a small tern which occurs in the southwestern Pacific.
Marsh tern - It breeds in warmer parts of the world in southern Europe , temperate and eastern Asia, both coasts of North America, eastern South America and Australia. This bird has a number of geographical races, differing mainly in size and minor plumage details.
Arctic Tern - Arctic Terns are medium-sized birds. They have a length of 33–39 cm and a wingspan of 76–85 cm . They are mainly grey and white plumaged, with a red beak and feet, white forehead, a black nape and crown , and white cheeks. The grey mantle is 305 mm, and the scapulars are fringed brown, some tipped white. The upper wing is grey with a white leading edge, and the collar is completely white, as is the rump. The deeply forked tail is whitish, with grey outer webs. The hindcrown to the ear-coverts is black.
Sandwich tern - The Sandwich Tern (Thalasseus sandvicensis, syn. Sterna sandvicensis, is a seabird of the tern family Sternidae. It is very closely related to the Lesser Crested Tern T. bengalensis, Chinese Crested Tern T. bernsteini, and Elegant Tern T. elegans, and has been known to interbreed with Lesser Crested.
Saunders - The Saunders's Tern is a species of tern in the Sternidae family. It is found in Bahrain, Iran, Israel, Kenya, Madagascar, Pakistan, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Tanzania, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen.
White-fronted Tern - White-fronted Terns feed in large flocks by plunge diving on shoals of smelt and pilchards which have been driven to the surface by larger fish and are easily caught. Like all terns they fly with their heads and bills pointing down to see their prey.
Black-naped tern - The tern is about 30cm long with a wing length of 21-23cm. Their beaks and legs are black, but the tips of their bills are yellow. They have long forked tails.
Amazon Tern - The Yellow-billed Tern is a species of tern in the Sternidae family. It is found in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay, and Venezuela. Its natural habitats are rivers, swamps, and freshwater lakes.
Trudeau's Tern - The Snowy-crowned Tern or Trudeau's Tern is a species of tern in the Sternidae family. It is found in Argentina, south-east Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay. It has occurred as a vagrant in the Falkland Islands. Its natural habitats are swamps, shallow seas, and intertidal marshes.
Kerguelen Tern - This seabird mainly breeds colonially in the Kerguelen Islands, as its common name implies. However, smaller colonies are also found in the Prince Edward Islands and Crozet Islands. The total number of individuals is from 3500-6500 birds, although there is no recent data from the main colony at Kerguelen. These birds do not inhabit Kerguelen proper, instead nesting on islets free of feral cats. During bad weather, they are known to abandon their colonies.
Antarctic Tern - Breeding takes place from mid-November to early December. Chicks hatch from December to February. Skuas and jaegers are the primary predators of this bird's eggs and young.