Bridled Tern (Onychoprion anaethetus) | Photos and ID

LCLeast ConcernFish

MarineCavity nestMedium · 119 g

Bridled Tern (Onychoprion anaethetus), photo 4 — Photo: ian bullock · CC BY 4.0

Bridled Tern (Onychoprion anaethetus), photo 5 — Photo: ian bullock · CC BY 4.0

Bridled Tern (Onychoprion anaethetus), photo 9 — Photo: ian_mcallan · CC BY 4.0

ID tip

This is a medium-sized tern, at 30–32 cm in length and with a 77–81 cm wingspan similar to the common tern in size, but more heavily built. The wings and deeply forked tail are long, and it has dark grey upperparts and white underparts. The forehead and eyebrows are white, as is a striking collar on the hindneck. It has black legs and bill. Juvenile bridled terns are scaly grey above and pale below. This species is unlikely to be confused with any tern apart from the similarly dark-backed sooty tern and the spectacled tern from the Tropical Pacific.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

When to see the Bridled Tern

One bar for each month. Filled bars are the 9 months with records; pale bars are months with none. The wide bar is August, the month with the most records.

Where to see the Bridled Tern

Regular rangeRare visitor

The map shades 88 countries with regular records, and 15 more in a lighter tone where the bird turns up only as a stray. Everything unshaded has no records. Countries are listed below the map.

United States Australia Taiwan India United Arab Emirates Sri Lanka Indonesia Puerto Rico Costa Rica Thailand Hong Kong SAR China Guadeloupe Seychelles Mexico Oman Israel China Grenada Panama Bahamas Singapore Malaysia Palau Fiji Kuwait Trinidad & Tobago Cayman Islands Papua New Guinea Solomon Islands Belize Anguilla Honduras Philippines St. Vincent & Grenadines Saudi Arabia Guatemala Egypt Curaçao Antigua & Barbuda New Caledonia Aruba British Virgin Islands Ecuador Cuba Iran Turks & Caicos Islands Mauritius St. Lucia Martinique Samoa Venezuela U.S. Virgin Islands Dominican Republic El Salvador Kenya Barbados Tonga Djibouti Bermuda Madagascar Senegal Japan Vietnam São Tomé & Príncipe Yemen Nicaragua Bahrain Caribbean Netherlands Timor-Leste Bangladesh Qatar Dominica Maldives American Samoa Comoros St. Barthélemy Vanuatu Réunion French Guiana Jordan St. Martin Eritrea Mayotte Cambodia Wallis & Futuna Tanzania Gambia St. Kitts & Nevis

Recorded as a rare visitor in United Kingdom, Sweden, Portugal, South Africa, Colombia, France, Belgium, Spain, Canada, Pakistan, Haiti, Jamaica, Norway, French Polynesia, Kiribati.

About the Bridled Tern

The bridled tern is a seabird of the family Laridae. It is a bird of the tropical oceans. The scientific name is from Ancient Greek. The genus comes from onux meaning "claw" or "nail", and prion, meaning "saw". The specific anaethetus means "senseless, stupid".

Text adapted from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Easily confused with

Sooty TernOnychoprion fuscatusIt is a medium-large tern, similar in size to the Sandwich tern (Thalasseus sandvicensis) at 36–45 cm (14–17.5 in) long with an 82–94 cm (32.5–37 in) wingspan.

Aleutian TernOnychoprion aleuticusThe Aleutian tern is medium-sized tern (32–39 cm (13–15 in) long), with a 75–80 cm (30–31 in) wingspan, a short pointed bill and a long, deeply forked tail.

Spectacled TernOnychoprion lunatusA close relative of the bridled and sooty terns (with which it is sometimes confused), the spectacled tern is less common than the other members of its genus and it has been studied less.

Side by side: Bridled Tern vs Sooty Tern · Aleutian Tern vs Bridled Tern

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