Bird Album
Aleutian Tern
Onychoprion aleuticus (Baird, SF, 1869)
≈37 cmLength78 cmWingspan120 gWeight
It closely resembles Arctic Tern, but has a white forehead and black bill and legs in the breeding season.
Busiest months: September · Most records: China, Singapore, United States
How to identify
Field marks
- Black cap and white forehead in the breeding season
- Back medium gray; underparts rather dark gray
- Bill and legs black in the breeding season
- Underwing white, with a dark bar across secondaries
Male, female and young
No obvious differences between sexes. Juvenile has a white collar, a large white forehead and white underparts.
Voice
An intermittent “chif-chif-chu-ak”, and a drawn-out “whee-hee-hee-hee”.
Where and when it's recorded
Busiest months: September · Most records: China, Singapore, United States
Aleutian Tern has been recorded at 30 of the 8,276 birding hotspots we track, in 7 countries and regions.
Records by month Northern Hemisphere
To protect this bird from disturbance, we don't list exact sites.
Countries and regions with the most records
eBird records via GBIF up to 2024-12-31. A record means someone listed it; more records partly mean more birders, not more birds.
About
The Aleutian tern (Onychoprion aleuticus) is a migratory bird living in the subarctic region of the globe most of the year. It is frequently associated with the Arctic tern, which it closely resembles. While both species have a black cap, the Aleutian tern may be distinguished by its white forehead (although juvenile Arctic terns also have white foreheads).
Excerpt from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0 · authors · Read more on Wikipedia
Questions
How big is the Aleutian Tern?
The Aleutian Tern is about ≈37 cm long, with a wingspan of 78 cm and weighs around 120 g.
Where does the Aleutian Tern live?
Its breeding range: Palearctic, North America: North Pacific coasts from Sakhalin, Sea of Okhotsk and Kamchatka through Aleutian Islands, and west to southwestern Alaska. It is most often recorded in China, Singapore and United States.
When is the best time to see the Aleutian Tern?
At the hotspots we track, it is recorded most in September (Northern Hemisphere).
Is the Aleutian Tern endangered?
The IUCN Red List classifies the Aleutian Tern as Vulnerable.
What does the Aleutian Tern eat?
Main food: Fish, shrimp & shellfish.
What family is the Aleutian Tern in?
It belongs to the family Gulls, Terns, Skimmers (Laridae), order Charadriiformes.
At a glance
- Length
- ≈37 cm
- Wingspan
- 78 cm
- Weight
- 120 g
- Habitat
- Coast & tidal flats
- Diet
- Fish, shrimp & shellfish
- Lifestyle
- Feeds in the air
- Migration
- Migratory
- Conservation
- Vulnerable
More measurements
- Wing
- 262 mm
- Tail
- 152 mm
- Bill
- 37 mm
- Tarsus
- 17 mm
Averages from the AVONET dataset; length from field guides where available.
Range
Palearctic, North America: North Pacific coasts from Sakhalin, Sea of Okhotsk and Kamchatka through Aleutian Islands, and west to southwestern Alaska
Breeding range, IOC World Bird List 15.2
Classification
- Order
- Charadriiformes
- Family
- Gulls, Terns, Skimmers Laridae
- Genus
- Onychoprion
Other birds in the genus Onychoprion
Sooty TernOnychoprion fuscatus
Bridled TernOnychoprion anaethetus
Spectacled TernOnychoprion lunatus
African SkimmerRynchops flavirostris
Indian SkimmerRynchops albicollis
Black SkimmerRynchops niger
Atlantic White TernGygis alba
Little White TernGygis microrhyncha
Brown NoddyAnous stolidus
Lesser NoddyAnous tenuirostris
Download illustration
Free to use with credit: “Illustration: Bird Album (birdalbum.com)”. Drawn by AI from a reference photo by Marc Kramer. ↗
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