Bird Album
Common Tern
Sterna hirundo Linnaeus, 1758
34–37 cmLength88 cmWingspan129 gWeight
In the breeding season it has a black cap and orange-red legs, with the tail reaching no farther than the wingtips when standing.
Busiest months: May · Most records: United States, Canada, United Kingdom
Looks like Roseate Tern
How to identify
Field marks
- Black cap in the breeding season
- Bill slender and pointed, red with a black tip (all-black in some subspecies)
- Legs orange-red in the breeding season
- Long tail reaches wingtips but does not project beyond them when standing
Male, female and young
No obvious differences between sexes; juvenile has a brown crown and nape and a ginger-colored forehead.
Voice
Piping calls, lower in pitch and less grating than those of Arctic Tern.
Similar species
Where and when it's recorded
Common Tern has been recorded at 2,853 of the 8,171 birding hotspots we track, in 180 countries and regions.
Records by month Northern Hemisphere
Where it's recorded most
- Parker River NWRUnited States9,189 records
- Point Pelee National ParkCanada7,920 records
- Tommy Thompson ParkCanada6,775 records
More places
- Toronto – Colonel Samuel Smith ParkCanada6,159 records
- Edwin B. Forsythe NWRUnited States5,498 records
- Cape Island – South Cape May MeadowsUnited States5,463 records
- Tawas Point SPUnited States5,222 records
- Howard Marsh MetroparkUnited States5,045 records
- Cape Island – Cape May Point SPUnited States4,875 records
- Milford Point, CT AudubonUnited States4,393 records
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 common tern (Sterna hirundo) is a seabird in the family Laridae. This bird has a circumpolar distribution, its four subspecies breeding in temperate and subarctic regions of Europe, Asia and North America. It is strongly migratory, wintering in coastal tropical and subtropical regions.
Excerpt from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0 · authors · Read more on Wikipedia
Questions
How big is the Common Tern?
The Common Tern is about 34–37 cm long, with a wingspan of 88 cm and weighs around 129 g.
Where does the Common Tern live?
Its breeding range: Palearctic, North America: widespread, subarctic, temperate, and locally tropical Northern Hemisphere. It is most often recorded in United States, Canada and United Kingdom.
When is the best time to see the Common Tern?
At the hotspots we track, it is recorded most in May (Northern Hemisphere).
Is the Common Tern endangered?
The IUCN Red List classifies the Common Tern as Least Concern.
What does the Common Tern eat?
Main food: Fish, shrimp & shellfish.
What family is the Common Tern in?
It belongs to the family Gulls, Terns, Skimmers (Laridae), order Charadriiformes.
At a glance
- Length
- 34–37 cm
- Wingspan
- 88 cm
- Weight
- 129 g
- Habitat
- Ocean
- Diet
- Fish, shrimp & shellfish
- Lifestyle
- Feeds in the air
- Migration
- Migratory
- Conservation
- Least Concern
More measurements
- Wing
- 253 mm
- Tail
- 130 mm
- Bill
- 44 mm
- Tarsus
- 20 mm
Averages from the AVONET dataset; length from field guides where available.
Range
Palearctic, North America: widespread, subarctic, temperate, and locally tropical Northern Hemisphere
Breeding range, IOC World Bird List 15.2
Subspecies · 3
- Sterna hirundo hirundo Azores, Madeira and Canary Is. (Macaronesia, w of nw Africa); Tunisia (n Africa), Mauritania and Senegal (w Africa); inland Europe (except Arctic) to nw Siberia and w China; inland Northwest Territories to Montana, James Bay and se Canada and New England, coastal w North Atlantic to South Carolina; Bahamas (erratic), and islands n of Venezuela | non-breeding: s oceans
- Sterna hirundo tibetana c Asia to Xinjiang (w China) e to nw Inner Mongolia, s through Tibetan Plateau from e Ladakh to Qinghai | non-breeding: e Indian Ocean
- Sterna hirundo longipennis ne Siberia s to Kamchatka, Sakhalin, Ussuriland and e Mongolia to ne China | non-breeding: se Asia and Philippines to Australia
Classification
- Order
- Charadriiformes
- Family
- Gulls, Terns, Skimmers Laridae
- Genus
- Sterna
Other birds in the genus Sterna
River TernSterna aurantia
Forster's TernSterna forsteri
Snowy-crowned TernSterna trudeaui
Arctic TernSterna paradisaea
South American TernSterna hirundinacea
Antarctic TernSterna vittata
Kerguelen TernSterna virgata
White-cheeked TernSterna repressa
Black-naped TernSterna sumatrana
Roseate TernSterna dougallii
White-fronted TernSterna striata
Black-bellied TernSterna acuticauda
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Free to use with credit: “Illustration: Bird Album (birdalbum.com)”. Drawn by AI from a reference photo by MPF. ↗
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