True Terns
Sterninae
Terns are seabirds in the family Laridae that have a worldwide distribution and are normally found near the sea, rivers, or wetlands. Terns are treated as a subgroup of the family Laridae which includes gulls and skimmers and consist of eleven genera. They are slender, lightly built birds with long, forked tails, narrow wings, long bills, and relatively short legs. Most species are pale grey above and white below, with a contrasting black cap to the...
9 branches of this subfamily, most-observed first · about 40 known species
Typical Terns
genusSterna
Crested Terns
genusThalasseus
Caspian Terns
genusHydroprogne
Marsh Terns
genusChlidonias
Small Terns
genusSternula
Gull-billed Terns
genusGelochelidon
Brown-backed Terns
genusOnychoprion
Phaetusa
genusPhaetusa
Larosterna
genusLarosterna
Where it lives
Recorded sightings
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geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
Drag the globe to turn it. Dots are where records exist, not a range map; darker means more records.
In the stacks
Searching the stacks…
Every page naming Sterninae in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 373567.