Royal Tern
Thalasseus maximus
Photo: Beto_MdP · Pixabay · Pixabay Content License (licence)
Call and song
Recording 1 · begging call, flight call
Recording 2
Recording 3
About the Royal Tern
Large tern, found strictly in coastal areas. Feeds in open ocean and saltwater bays, where it flies high above the water looking for small fish. Rests on beaches, often in groups with other species. Separated from many terns by large size; only slightly smaller than Caspian. Look for the thinner orange bill (usually not deep red) and shaggier crest compared with Caspian. Also, forehead whiter than Caspian Tern in the nonbreeding season; this can show as early as midsummer.
Species account: eBird.org, fetched 2025-12-26 · How these pages are made
Where it has been recorded
Recorded in 55 of the 253 countries we have eBird lists for. Each opens that country's checklist.
- Anguilla
- Antigua and Barbuda
- Argentina
- Aruba
- Bahamas
- Barbados
- Belize
- Bermuda
- Brazil
- Canada
- Caribbean Netherlands
- Cayman Islands
- Chile
- Colombia
- Costa Rica
- Cuba
- Curaçao
- Dominica
- Dominican Republic
- Ecuador
- El Salvador
- France
- French Guiana
- Grenada
- Guadeloupe
- Guatemala
- Guernsey
- Guyana
- Haiti
- Honduras
- Ireland
- Jamaica
- Martinique
- Mexico
- Montserrat
- Nicaragua
- Panama
- Peru
- Portugal
- Puerto Rico
- Saint Barthélemy
- Saint Kitts and Nevis
- Saint Lucia
- Saint Martin (French part)
- Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
- Sint Maarten
- Suriname
- Trinidad and Tobago
- Turks and Caicos Islands
- United Kingdom
- United States
- Uruguay
- Venezuela
- Virgin Islands (British)
- Virgin Islands (U.S.)
