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Common Terns are medium-sized terns. During the breeding season they have a black cap that encompasses the eyes and extends well onto the nape of the neck, a white front (throat, neck, chest, belly and vent) and grey wings. The chest and belly can be light-grey. When folded, the wings, which have conspicuous black tips, are the same length as the tail. The tail is forked. The slender bill of race "longipennis" found in Australia is black, while nominate race "hirundo" has a red bill with a black tip. The short legs and the feet are black (sometimes reddish). In eclipse the front of the head becomes white, with a mottled black-and-white front part of the remaining smaller black cap. Juvenile Common Terns have dark leading and trailing edges to their wings. Otherwise they resemble non-breeding adults.

Twitcher's tip

Compared to White-fronted Terns, the Common Tern has darker wing tips.

Note that second-year Common Terns are very similar to second-year White-fronted Terns.

The overall distribution of this species can be assessed, and specific locations where birds have been spotted can be found, based on individual sighting reports submitted by birdwatchers to ebird.org .

The global distribution of the Common Tern is available HERE .

Common Terns are a global, strongly migratory species. There are four races, which populate parts of all continents, except Antarctica. Nominate race "hirundo" breeds in Europe, from Bretagne and western England eastwards, in small areas of coastal North Africa (although not elsewhere in the Mediterranean), in Arabia and in western and central Asia, as far East as western Siberia and Kazakhstan. They are also found in Canada, East of the Rocky Mountains to the Atlantic coastline down to about the Carolinas. Race "minussensis" has a limited breeding range, from Lake Baikal eastwards to northern Mongolia and southern Tibet. The North American population winters along the coastlines of tropical central America and of South America, except the southern Chilean coastline. The European and western Asian population migrates to the coastlines of Africa, from the equator to Cape Hoorn. Race "tibetana" breeds from the Himalayas to southern Mongolia and China. They migrate to the coastlines of southern Pakistan and north-western India and the East coast of India (including Sri Lanka) and Bangladesh. Race "longipennis" breeds in an area from central Siberia to China; they can also be found in parts of Alaska. This race spends the northern winters in large parts of coastal south-eastern Asia and in Australia.

Common Terns, race "longipennis" migrate to Australia from the North and populate large parts of the Australian seaboard and continental shelf. They are primarily non-breeding migrants. In addition to the entire North coast, they go as far as about Carnarvon, WA, in the West. Along the East coast they can migrate all the way to the South of the continent, including Bass Strait and the East coast of Tasmania. Along the South coast the limit of their range is in the area of Adelaide, SA. They are not found anywhere inland. Nominate race "hirundo" is reported in Australia only occasionally.

Common Terns can often be found above coastal waters, and on beaches and coastal rockfaces.

Race "longipennis"

Race "hirundo"