Royal Tern (Thalasseus maximus)

Other Scientific Names
Thalasseus maximus [Stotz et al. (1996)], Thalasseus maximus [AOU checklist (1998 + supplements)]

Family
Laridae (Gulls, Terns, Skimmers)

Size
43 - 48 cm

First Described (Guide)
(Boddaert, 1783)

Range (Guide)

Angola, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Benin, Bermuda, Brazil, Cameroon, Canada, Cayman Islands, Colombia, Congo, Congo [The Democratic Republic of the], Costa Rica, C�te dIvoire, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador (NB), El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, French Guiana, Gabon, Gambia (B), Ghana, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guatemala, Guinea (NB), Guinea-bissau (B), Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica (B) (NB), Liberia, Martinique, Mauritania (B), Mexico, Montserrat, Morocco, Namibia, Netherlands Antilles, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Panama, Peru, Puerto Rico, Senegal (B), Sierra Leone, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and The Grenadines, Suriname, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands (NB), Uruguay (B), USA (B), Venezuela, Virgin Islands (British) (B) (NB), Virgin Islands (U.S.) (B) (NB), Western Sahara.

Vagrant to Gibraltar, Ireland, Norway, Paraguay, Portugal, Spain, Sudan, United Kingdom.

Unknown to Mozambique.

Rarity Status
Currently this species is not classified as a rarity in this country OR information has not been updated.

Population
Estimated population is 370,000 (2010).

Status LC
For more information see BirdLife International Species Factsheet.

Voice
Xeno-Canto Sound Files (more (90)...)

Royal Tern (Thalasseus) [XC257584]
by John V. Moore from Manab\u00ed: Pedernales, Ecuador (flight call, flight calls)

Royal Tern (Thalasseus maximus) [XC574456]
by William Whitehead from Ahome, Sinaloa, Mexico (call)

Subspecies
Sometimes considered to form superspecies with Crested Tern (Thalasseus bergii). Racial variation questionable.

The following 2 subspecies are recognised:

albididorsalis (Hartert, 1921) - Mauritania to Guinea, occasionally further S. Winters south to Namibia.
maximus (Boddaert, 1783) - Southern California to Sinaloa, and Maryland (rarely New Jersey) to Texas, and through West Indies to the Guianas and possibly Brazil, with disjunct breeding populations on Yucatán, and in southern Brazil, Uruguay and northern Patagonia. Winters south to Peru and to Uruguay and Argentina.

References
See References.

Files:

JPG files for Royal Tern (Thalasseus maximus) - 10 files

More Information

BirdLife International

For more information about the Royal Tern see... Show Articles

BirdLife International Species Factsheet.

Articles about the Royal Tern

If you would like to read any articles about the Royal Tern...

Show Articles (0)

No Pictures of Royal Tern

If Birdpedia has no pictures of Royal Tern or you would like to see more, then try the following...

Show External Images from BING

From BING (10)

No Videos of Royal Tern

If Birdpedia has no videos of Royal Tern or you would like to see more, then try the following..

Show External Videos

From BING (0)