Arctic Tern
Sterna paradisaea
The Arctic Tern (Sterna paradisaea) is a common skimmers, noddies, terns, and gull found in 84 countries, weighing about 110 g. The Arctic tern is a tern in the family Laridae.
About the Arctic Tern
The Arctic tern is a tern in the family Laridae. This bird has a circumpolar breeding distribution covering the Arctic and subarctic regions of Europe, Asia, and North America. The species is strongly migratory, seeing two summers each year as it migrates along a convoluted route from its northern breeding grounds to the Antarctic coast for the southern summer and back again about six months later. Recent studies have shown average annual round-trip lengths of about 70,900 km (38,300 nmi) for birds nesting in Iceland and Greenland, and about 48,700 km (26,300 nmi) for birds nesting in the Netherlands, while an individual from the Farne Islands in Northumberland with a light level geolocator…
Text adapted from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
What the Arctic Tern sounds like
Where it lives
Recorded as a rare visitor in Morocco, Uruguay, Sri Lanka, Sierra Leone, Honduras, Japan, South Korea, Benin, Cameroon, Kenya, Cuba, Oman, Ukraine.
When to see it
Best months: May, June, July, August, with peak activity in June. It is a summer visitor species across most of its range.
Easily confused with
Quick questions
- What does an Arctic Tern look like?
- The Arctic tern is a tern in the family Laridae.
- How big is an Arctic Tern?
- The Arctic Tern is a medium sized bird weighing about 110 g.
- Where can you see an Arctic Tern?
- The Arctic Tern occurs in 84 countries, including Sweden, the United States, Finland, Norway and Iceland.
- What does an Arctic Tern sound like?
- You can listen to 3 field recordings of the Arctic Tern on this page, contributed to xeno-canto under open licences.
- What birds look similar to an Arctic Tern?
- The Arctic Tern is most easily confused with the River Tern, the Roseate Tern and the White-fronted Tern.
- Is the Arctic Tern endangered?
- The Arctic Tern is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List.
Learn the Arctic Tern for real
BeakBrain drills you on photos and calls until you can greet this bird by name in the field. Free to play, on any device.
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