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Sandwich Tern (Thalasseus sandvicensis) German name(s): "Brandseeschwalbe" Size: 37-43 cm; wing span 95-105 cm Body mass: 180-300 g Wing loading [g/cm2]: 0.25-0.35

Europe: Family Group 10 Family Group 10 Table Great Skua Arctic Skua Pomarine Skua Caspian Gull Great Black-backed Gull Lesser Black-backed Gull American Herring Gull European Herring Gull Yellow-legged Gull Audouin's Gull Slender-billed Gull Iceland Gull Common Gull Ring-billed Gull Black-headed Gull Bonaparte's Gull Mediterranean Gull Little Gull Sabine's Gull Black-legged Kittiwake Caspian Tern Sandwich Tern Gull-billed Tern Common Tern Arctic Tern Little Tern Forster's Tern Whiskered Tern Black Tern White-winged Black Tern Atlantic Puffin Razorbill Common Guillemot Black Guillemot Thumbnails page Family group table Index of bird names European birds home page

Similar species

Description     Classification     Distribution     Sightings     Photos     Breeding     Nest     Eggs     Behaviour     Food     Call/s

Physical description Click here for a physical description Sandwich Terns are medium-sized terns. During the breeding season they have a black cap with a small crest, a white front (throat, neck, chest, belly and vent) and light-grey wings. The black eyes are surrounded by the black cap, while the frons (base of the bill) is white. The pointy, long bill is black with a yellow tip; the short legs and feet are dark-grey. In eclipse the front of the cap becomes mottled black-and-white. Juvenile Sandwich Terns have "checkered" upperparts, i.e. their back is mottled in various shades of grey. The head is grey.

Taxonomy, classification See Sandwich Tern at Wikipedia . Click here for classification information The Sandwich Tern is no longer considered to be conspecific with Cabot's Tern (Thalasseus acuflavidus).

Range, habitat, finding this species Click here for information on habitat and range 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 Sandwich Tern is available HERE . Sandwich Terns are a mostly migratory species. The only resident population resides on the South shore of the Caspian Sea. All other populations migrate. Their Eurasian breeding range extends from the Bay of Biscaye in the South along the European Atlantic and North Sea coast, via western Europe (inluding the British Isles) to Denmark and further East into the southern Baltic Sea. There are breeding populations on the North coast of the Black Sea and all around the Caspian Sea as well. The migratory populations spend the northern winters anywhere from the Mediterranean coastline (except the Cote d'Azur and most of the major islands), the Balkans, Greece, the eastern coastline of the Black Sea, along the western African coastline all the way to Cape Hoorn or on the eastern Arabian coastline, the Persian Gulf or the coastline of Iran or Pakistan. There is a separate winter population on the southern tip of India and in Sri Lanka. There is also a large population in the Americas, who are permanently present in various areas along the East coast of North America, central America and South America. In the northern summer they extend their breeding range along the East coast of the US to about Cape Cod in the North. Their wintering grounds span the entire length of the American East coast, from South Carolina in the North down to Patagonia in the South. On the American West coast they are found only in the tropics, from central Mexico in the North to Peru in the South. In Europe, except for a few isolated breeding sites on the Mediterranean coastline and the Black Sea coastline, Sandwich Terns are winter visitors anywhere along the Atlantic and Mediterranean coastline south of Bretagne, France. Most of their breeding sites are found from the northern Bretagne, and around the British Isles including Ireland, along the Benelux coastline to the German Wattensee, on along the Danish coastline to southern Norway and into the southern coastal fringe of the Baltic Sea as well. Outside the breeding season Sandwich Terns are a strictly coastal species that is usually seen either when resting on beaches or while hunting in coastal waters. Their European breeding sites are also in coastal habitats (sandy beaches or low islands surrounded by saline or brackish water).

Sightings Click here for sighting information J. Pires reports finding a Sandwich Tern in the Tejo estuary, Portugal, in March 2016 and again in August 2019. The species was also found in the estuary of the Sado River in January 2023 and in various locations along the coastline of southern Portugal, from the southern tip to the Lisbon area. All sighting and photographic information presented on this page has kindly been contributed by J. Pires. H. Dahlem-Senger spotted Sandwich Terns at Neuharlingersiel, Ostfriesland, Germany, in September 2024. We have previously found Sandwich Terns in Oman.

Photos

ADULT

Sex unknown

BREEDING

Near-frontal view of a Sandwich Tern in breeding plumage, right, and another in eclipse, left (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Lagoa de Albufeira, near Sesimbra, Setubal, Portugal, May 2019]

Near-frontal view of a Sandwich Tern in breeding plumage in comparison with a Great Cormorant (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Lagoa de Albufeira, near Sesimbra, Setubal, Portugal, May 2019]

Distant near-lateral view of a Sandwich Tern in breeding plumage in flight, wings up (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Cabo Raso, Cascais, near Lisbon, Portugal, May 2019]

Distant near-lateral view of a Sandwich Tern in breeding plumage in flight, wings down (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Cabo Raso, Cascais, near Lisbon, Portugal, May 2019]

Distant lateral view of a Sandwich Tern in breeding plumage in flight, wings up (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Cabo Raso, Cascais, near Lisbon, Portugal, May 2019]

Distant lateral view of a Sandwich Tern in breeding plumage in flight, wings up - note the yellowish tip of the bill
(photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Cabo Raso, Cascais, near Lisbon, Portugal, May 2019]

Distant lateral view of a Sandwich Tern in breeding plumage in flight, wings down - note the yellowish tip of the bill
(photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Cabo Raso, Cascais, near Lisbon, Portugal, May 2019]

Near-dorsal/ventral view of a Sandwich Tern in breeding plumage in flight (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Lagoa de Albufeira, near Sesimbra, Setubal, Portugal, May 2019]

NON-BREEDING

Near-frontal view of two Sandwich Terns in non-breeding plumage (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Fishing port of Vila Real Santo Antonio, Algarve, Portugal, October 2020]

Lateral view of a Sandwich Tern in non-breeding plumage (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Lagoa de Obidos, Obidos, Leiria, Portugal, July 2020]

Lateral view of 4 Sandwich Terns in non-breeding plumage, one of which is just landing
(photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Salinas da Fuseta, Olhao, Faro, Algarve, Portugal, November 2021]

Lateral view of 3 Sandwich Terns in non-breeding plumage (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Fishing port of Vila Real Santo Antonio, Algarve, Portugal, October 2020]

Near-dorsal view of a Sandwich Tern in non-breeding plumage (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Lagoa de Albufeira, near Sesimbra, Setubal, Portugal, May 2019]

Frontal view of a Sandwich Tern in non-breeding plumage in flight (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Vila Franca de Xira, Tejo estuary, Portugal, August 2022]

Near-frontal view of a Sandwich Tern in non-breeding plumage in flight; note the deeply forked tail (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Montijo, Tejo estuary, Portugal, August 2019]

Near-lateral view of a Sandwich Tern in non-breeding plumage in flight, wings down (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Montijo, Tejo estuary, Portugal, August 2019]

Near-lateral view of a Sandwich Tern in non-breeding plumage in flight, wings flat (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Sado estuary, Portugal, January 2023]

Near-lateral view of a Sandwich Tern in non-breeding plumage in flight, wings up (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Montijo, Tejo estuary, Portugal, August 2019]

Lateral view of a Sandwich Tern in non-breeding plumage in flight (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Fishing port of Vila Real Santo Antonio, Algarve, Portugal, October 2020]

Lateral view onto the upperparts of a Sandwich Tern in non-breeding plumage in flight (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Montijo, Tejo estuary, Portugal, September 2020]

Lateral view onto the upperparts of a Sandwich Tern in non-breeding plumage banking in flight (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Montijo, Tejo estuary, Portugal, September 2020]

Lateral/ventral view of a Sandwich Tern in non-breeding plumage in flight (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Montijo, Tejo estuary, Portugal, August 2019]

Near-dorsal/ventral view of a Sandwich Tern in non-breeding plumage in flight (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Tejo estuary, Portugal, March 2016]

Dorsal view onto the upperparts of a Sandwich Tern in non-breeding plumage in flight (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Montijo, Tejo estuary, Portugal, September 2020]

IMMATURE/JUVENILE

Lateral view of a first-winter Sandwich Tern in flight (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Fishing port of Sagres, Algarve, Portugal, October 2019]

Near-dorsal view of a first-winter Sandwich Tern in flight (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Fishing port of Sagres, Algarve, Portugal, October 2019]

Dorsal view of a first-winter Sandwich Tern hovering in flight (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Fishing port of Sagres, Algarve, Portugal, October 2019]

More photos of Sandwich Terns were taken by us in Oman.

Behaviour

Social behaviour: Communal

Mobility: Migratory

Elementary unit: Solitary/mob

While migratory, Sandwich Terns are a strictly coastal species that will follow the coastlines to reach its breeding grounds (unlike, e.g., Caspian Terns, which will "cut across" land by following rivers).

Lateral view of Sandwich Terns in breeding plumage flying into the wind while hunting in coastal waters
(photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Cabo Raso, Cascais, near Lisbon, Portugal, June 2020]

Sandwich Tern in non-breeding plumage in a steep dive to catch fish (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Montijo, Tejo estuary, Portugal, September 2020]

These pages are largely based on our own observations and those of our contributors. The structure of these bird pages is explained HERE. For more salient facts on any bird species please refer to a field guide.

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