White-winged Tern

How to identify

Field marks

1. Neck and belly black, back dark gray in summer plumage
2. Wings mostly white
3. Legs short and red, bill short and black in summer plumage
4. Rump white and tail pale gray, almost white, in summer plumage

Male, female and young

Juvenile often shows a square tail and a pale gray rump.

Similar species

Black Tern

Black Tern has a dark patch on the side of the breast; White-winged Tern lacks this.

Where and when it's recorded

Busiest months: May · Most records: China, Australia, Israel

White-winged Tern has been recorded at 1,688 of the 8,276 birding hotspots we track, in 136 countries and regions.

Records by month Northern Hemisphere

Where it's recorded most

1. Western Treatment PlantAustralia2,972 records
2. Eilat – KM20 Flamingo Pools 20Israel837 records
3. Hama'apil FishpondsIsrael816 records

Countries and regions with the most records

ChinaAustraliaIsraelThailandKenyaUgandaMongoliaSri Lanka

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 white-winged tern or white-winged black tern (Chlidonias leucopterus) is a species of tern in the family Laridae. It is a small species generally found in or near bodies of fresh water across much of the world, including Europe, Africa, Asia, and Australia. The genus name is from Ancient Greek khelidonios, "swallow-like", from khelidon, "swallow".

Excerpt from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0 · authors · Read more on Wikipedia

Questions