Gull-billed Tern (Gelochelidon nilotica) | Photos, Calls and ID

LCLeast ConcernOmnivore

CoastalPlatform nestMedium · 218 g

Gull-billed Tern (Gelochelidon nilotica), photo 4 — Photo: Anthony Batista · CC BY 4.0

Gull-billed Tern (Gelochelidon nilotica), photo 5 — Photo: Craig Hensley · CC BY 4.0

Gull-billed Tern (Gelochelidon nilotica), photo 6 — Photo: bitsandbugs · CC0

Gull-billed Tern (Gelochelidon nilotica), photo 7 — Photo: Anthony Batista · CC BY 4.0

What the Gull-billed Tern sounds like

Sonogram of the Gull-billed Tern: time runs left to right, pitch bottom to top, and the brighter the mark the louder the sound.

Recorded by Joost van Bruggen · Call · Área Metropolitana de Sevilla (near Isla Mayor), Sevilla, Andalucía, Spain · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via xeno-canto

Recorded by Jochem verweij · Berkel en Rodenrijs, Lansingerland, South Holland, Netherlands · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via xeno-canto

ID tip

This is a fairly large and powerful tern, similar in size and general appearance to a Sandwich tern, but the short thick gull-like bill, broad wings, long legs and robust body are distinctive. The summer adult has grey upperparts, white underparts, a black cap, strong black bill and black legs. The call is a characteristic ker-wik. It is 33–42 cm (13–17 in) in length and 76–91 cm (30–36 in) in wingspan. Body mass ranges from 150–292 g (5.3–10.3 oz). In winter, the cap is lost, and there is a dark patch through the eye like a Forster's tern or a Mediterranean gull.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

When to see the Gull-billed Tern

One bar for each month, and every month is filled: this bird is recorded here in all twelve. The wide bar is April, the month with the most records.

Where to see the Gull-billed Tern

Regular rangeRare visitor

The map shades 156 countries with regular records, and 14 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 India Spain France Australia Mexico Taiwan United Arab Emirates Sri Lanka China Israel Kenya Portugal Thailand Türkiye Tanzania Colombia Senegal Venezuela Ecuador Belize Argentina Uganda Philippines Greece Costa Rica Panama Gambia Cuba Kuwait Oman Hong Kong SAR China Brazil Iran Malaysia Egypt Morocco Bahamas Saudi Arabia Guatemala Italy Sweden Ethiopia Honduras Indonesia Ukraine Peru Mongolia Bulgaria Georgia Nicaragua Kazakhstan Dominican Republic United Kingdom Pakistan Germany French Guiana Romania Guyana Cayman Islands Turks & Caicos Islands Russia Azerbaijan Cyprus Belgium Norway Puerto Rico El Salvador Qatar Trinidad & Tobago Chile Guinea-Bissau Djibouti Uruguay Bahrain Denmark Malawi Bangladesh Vietnam Mauritania South Africa Netherlands Suriname Tunisia Armenia Guadeloupe Uzbekistan Nepal Singapore Caribbean Netherlands Sudan Bermuda Zambia Poland Ghana Algeria Barbados Haiti Jordan Timor-Leste Cape Verde Curaçao Yemen Guinea Myanmar (Burma) Hungary Croatia Japan Austria Ireland Switzerland Mali Albania Iraq Jamaica Congo - Kinshasa Somalia Aruba British Virgin Islands Mozambique Slovenia Chad U.S. Virgin Islands Palau Angola Montenegro Nigeria Antigua & Barbuda Slovakia Cambodia Kyrgyzstan Grenada Northern Mariana Islands Serbia Syria Namibia Burundi Cameroon Eritrea Niger Rwanda Sierra Leone Martinique Côte d’Ivoire St. Lucia Turkmenistan Malta Seychelles St. Martin Macao SAR China Libya South Sudan Paraguay Brunei Moldova Lebanon

Recorded as a rare visitor in Canada, Finland, New Zealand, South Korea, Iceland, Benin, Gabon, Liberia, St. Barthélemy, Gibraltar, St. Kitts & Nevis, Czechia, North Macedonia, Guam.

About the Gull-billed Tern

The gull-billed tern is a tern in the family Laridae. It is widely distributed and breeds in scattered localities in Europe, Asia, northwest Africa, and the Americas. The Australian gull-billed tern was previously considered a subspecies.

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

Easily confused with

Australian TernGelochelidon macrotarsaThis is a fairly large and powerful tern, similar in size and general appearance to a Sandwich tern, but the short thick gull-like bill, broad wings, long legs and robust body are distinctive.

Side by side: Australian Tern vs Gull-billed Tern

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