Whiskered Tern
Chlidonias hybrida
Photo: Abhishek Navlakha · Pexels · Pexels License (licence)
Call and song
Recording 1 · call, nocturnal flight call
Recording 2
Recording 3
About the Whiskered Tern
Small buoyant tern. Breeding adult has distinctive dark smoky gray body and contrasting white cheeks (can look like broad white "whiskers" in flight) underneath a black cap. Nonbreeding plumage pale silvery gray overall with a faded shadow of the cap; juvenile has dark-checkered back. Note rather stout bill (albeit thinner than Gull-billed Tern) and square tail; compare to Common, Roseate, and Arctic Terns. Feeds by picking from surface, not splash-diving like typical terns. Common around wetlands, lakes, and rivers.
Species account: eBird.org, fetched 2025-12-26 · How these pages are made
Where it has been recorded
Recorded in 150 of the 253 countries we have eBird lists for. Each opens that country's checklist.
- Afghanistan
- Albania
- Algeria
- Andorra
- Angola
- Armenia
- Ashmore and Cartier Islands
- Australia
- Austria
- Azerbaijan
- Bahamas
- Bahrain
- Bangladesh
- Barbados
- Belarus
- Belgium
- Benin
- Bhutan
- Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Botswana
- British Indian Ocean Territory
- Brunei
- Bulgaria
- Burundi
- Cambodia
- Cameroon
- Cape Verde
- Chad
- China
- Christmas Island
- Cocos (Keeling) Islands
- Congo
- Croatia
- Cyprus
- Czech Republic
- Denmark
- Djibouti
- DR Congo
- Egypt
- Estonia
- Eswatini
- Ethiopia
- Finland
- France
- Gambia
- Georgia
- Germany
- Ghana
- Greece
- Guam
- High Seas
- Hong Kong
- Hungary
- Iceland
- India
- Indonesia
- Iran
- Iraq
- Ireland
- Israel
- Italy
- Japan
- Jersey
- Jordan
- Kazakhstan
- Kenya
- Kosovo
- Kuwait
- Kyrgyzstan
- Laos
- Latvia
- Lebanon
- Lesotho
- Libya
- Lithuania
- Macau
- Madagascar
- Malawi
- Malaysia
- Maldives
- Mali
- Malta
- Mauritania
- Micronesia
- Moldova
- Monaco
- Mongolia
- Montenegro
- Morocco
- Mozambique
- Myanmar
- Namibia
- Nepal
- Netherlands
- New Zealand
- Niger
- North Korea
- North Macedonia
- Northern Mariana Islands
- Norway
- Oman
- Pakistan
- Palau
- Palestinian Territory
- Papua New Guinea
- Philippines
- Poland
- Portugal
- Qatar
- Réunion
- Romania
- Russia
- Saudi Arabia
- Senegal
- Serbia
- Seychelles
- Sierra Leone
- Singapore
- Slovakia
- Slovenia
- South Africa
- South Korea
- South Sudan
- Spain
- Sri Lanka
- Sudan
- Sweden
- Switzerland
- Syria
- Taiwan
- Tajikistan
- Tanzania
- Thailand
- Timor-Leste
- Togo
- Tunisia
- Türkiye
- Turkmenistan
- Uganda
- Ukraine
- United Arab Emirates
- United Kingdom
- United States
- Uzbekistan
- Vanuatu
- Vietnam
- Western Sahara
- Yemen
- Zambia
- Zimbabwe
