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RiverineScrapeMedium · 235 g
ID tip
The large-billed tern is large, short-tailed tern with a large yellow bill. It is around 38 cm (15 in) in overall length and weighs 208–247 g (7.3–8.7 oz). The crown and ear-coverts are black, the upperparts are grey, the secondaries, primary coverts, lores and underparts are white. The legs and feet are yellow. A non-breeding adult has a paler crown and forehead.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
When to see the Large-billed Tern
One bar for each month, and every month is filled: this bird is recorded here in all twelve. The wide bar is October, the month with the most records.
Where to see the Large-billed Tern
The map shades 15 countries with regular records, and 1 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.
Recorded as a rare visitor in United States.
About the Large-billed Tern
The large-billed tern is a species of tern in the family Laridae. It is placed the monotypic genus Phaetusa. It is found in most of South America. It has occurred as a vagrant in Aruba, Bermuda, Cuba, Panama and the United States. Its natural habitats are rivers and freshwater lakes.
Text adapted from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Easily confused with
Roseate TernSterna dougalliiThis is a small-medium tern, 33–36 cm (13–14 in) long with a 67–76 cm (26–30 in) wingspan, which can be confused with the common tern, Arctic tern, and the larger, but similarly plumaged, Sandwich tern.
White-fronted TernSterna striataThe white-fronted tern is an average-sized tern; its dimensions are 35–43 cm (14–17 in) in length, with a wingspan between 79 and 82 cm (31 and 32 in); the male weighs on average 130 g (4.6 oz).
Hartlaub's GullChroicocephalus hartlaubiiHartlaub's gull is 37–39 cm in length, with a wingspan of 89–92 cm and a weight of 235–340 g.
Side by side: Large-billed Tern vs Roseate Tern · Large-billed Tern vs White-fronted Tern · Hartlaub's Gull vs Large-billed Tern
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