Albania (NB), Algeria, Angola, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Aruba, Azerbaijan (B) (P), Bahamas, Bahrain, Barbados, Belgium (B), Belize, Benin, Brazil, Bulgaria (B) (NB), Cameroon, Cape Verde, Cayman Islands, Chile, Colombia, Congo, Congo [The Democratic Republic of the], Costa Rica, Côte dIvoire, Croatia (Local Name: Hrvatska) (NB), Cuba, Cyprus (NB), Denmark (B) (P), Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea (NB), Eritrea, Estonia (B), France (B) (NB) (P), French Guiana, Gabon, Gambia, Germany (B) (P), Ghana, Gibraltar (NB), Greece (B) (NB) (P), Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-bissau, Guyana, Haiti, India, Iran [Islamic Republic of] (P), Iraq (P), Ireland (B), Israel, Italy (B) (NB) (P), Jamaica, Jordan (P), Kazakhstan (B), Kenya, Kuwait, Latvia, Lebanon (NB) (P), Liberia, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Macedonia [The Former Yugoslav Republic of] (B) (NB), Malta (NB), Martinique, Mauritania, Mexico, Montserrat, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Netherlands (B) (NB), Netherlands Antilles, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Norway (B), Oman (NB) (P), Pakistan, Panama, Peru, Poland (B) (P), Portugal (NB) (P), Puerto Rico, Qatar, Romania (B) (P), Russia (European) (B), Sâo Tomé e Principe, Saudi Arabia (P), Senegal, Sierra Leone, Slovenia (NB), South Africa, Spain (B) (NB) (P), Sri Lanka, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and The Grenadines, Sudan, Suriname, Sweden (B), Switzerland, Tanzania [United Republic of], Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia (NB), Turkey (B) (NB), Turkmenistan (B), Turks and Caicos Islands (NB), Ukraine (B) (P), United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom (B), Uruguay (B), USA (B), Venezuela, Virgin Islands (British) (NB), Virgin Islands (U.S.) (NB), Western Sahara, Yemen.
Vagrant to Bermuda, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Czech Republic, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Falkland Islands (Malvinas), Faroe Islands, Finland, Hungary, Iceland, Montenegro, Serbia, Seychelles, Slovakia (Slovak Republic), Somalia, St Pierre and Miquelon (P), Svalbard and Jan Mayen Islands.
Unknown to Honduras.
Population
Estimated population is 325000 - 430000 (2020) and stable.
Status LC
Human disturbance (tourism, windfarms), loss and degradation of breeding habitats, egg collection and hunting are the main threats.
For more information see BirdLife International Species Factsheet.
Food
Mainly marine fish taken from the surface of the sea, especially sand-eels.
Voice
A two syllable, 'keerr-ink'. A shorter, sharp alarm call.
Sandwich Tern (Thalasseus) [XC580249]
by BirdingAlbufera from Great Britain, Northumberland, England, United Kingdom (flight call)
Sandwich Tern (Thalasseus sandvicensis) [XC719796]
by Paul Kelly from Tjele, Viborg Municipality, Central Denmark Region, Denmark (flight call, nocturnal flight call)
Nest
Shallow scrape on shigle or amongst vegetation, unlined. In colonies.
Eggs (Guide)
1 - 2; very variable, from white to deep brown, heavily spotted or blotched with darker brown. Incubation: 21 - 29 days; by both sexes.
Subspecies
Forms superspecies with Elegant Tern (Thalasseus elegans) and Chinese Crested Tern (Thalasseus bernsteini), and perhaps also Chinese Crested Tern (Thalasseus bernsteini), and it has been suggested that all may even be conspecific.
Form eurygnatha, Cayenne Tern, generally considered separate species until work in southern Caribbean showed it to be subspecies or possibly morph of Sandwich Tern (Thalasseus sandvicensis), and that all but northernmost New World populations have at least small percentage of "Cayenne”-type birds.
Subspeces acuflavidus and eurygnatha interbreed freely in southern Caribbean, and mixed pairs occur also in Patagonia and Puerto Rico.
The following 3 subspecies are recognised:
sandvicensis (Latham, 1787) - Breeds on the Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts of Europe, and winters off western Africa and Arabia.
.
acuflavidus (Cabot, 1847) - Widespread coasts from Virginia to French Guiana, Argentina. Breeds on Atlantic coasts of North America, wintering in the Caribbean and further south, and has wandered to western Europe. Considered by some authors to be a distinct species, Cabot's Tern (Thalasseus acuflavidus).
eurygnathus (Saunders 1876) - Islands off Venezuela and the Guianas, northern and eastern South America. Breeds on the Atlantic coast of South America from Argentina north to the Caribbean, intergrading with acuflavida in the north of its range. Sometimes treated as a separate species, Cayenne Tern Sterna eurygnatha. Considered by some authors to be a subspecies of Cabot's Tern (Thalasseus acuflavidus).
The Reader's Digest Book of British Birds 1980, 3rd Edition, Drive Publications Ltd ISBN 0 340 25308 8
Birds in Colour Campbell, B., 1960, Penguin Books Ltd
The Pocket Guide to Nest and Eggs Fitter, R.S.R., 1954, Collins
RSPB Handbook of British Birds Holden, P., Cleeves, T., 2002, A & C Black ISBN 0 7136 5713 8
Birds of Britain and Europe Sterry, P., et al., 2001, AA Publishing ISBN 0 7495 3068 5
The Popular Handbook of British Birds Hollom, P.A.D., 1973, H.F. & G. Witherby Ltd ISBN 0 85493 002 7
BirdLife International Species Factsheet