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10

White-winged Black Tern (Chlidonias leucopterus) Alternate name(s): "White-winged Tern", "White-tailed Tern" German name(s): "Weißflügelseeschwalbe" Size: 22-24 cm; wing span ca. 65 cm (average) Weight: 63 g (average)

Europe: Family Group 10 Family Group 10 Table Great 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

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

Physical description Click here for a physical description White-winged Black Terns are medium-sized terns. Their plumage changes drastically between breeding season and eclipse. During the breeding season they have a black head, mantle, throat, chest and belly. Only the vent is white. The wings are dark-grey with white to light-grey shoulders. The eyes are black, the bill, legs and feet are dark-red. Outside the breeding season the front (neck, chest, belly,vent) and frons become white, with a mottled dark-grey cap. The wings are light-grey, with conspicuous dark-grey primaries. The bill, legs and feet turn black when not breeding. Juvenile birds have darker-grey wings, but otherwise resemble non-breeding adults.

Taxonomy, classification See White-winged Black Tern at Wikipedia .

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 White-winged Tern is available HERE . White-winged Terns are a migratory species. Their breeding grounds are marshes extending from South-east Europe to central Asia. They spend the northern winters in eastern and southern Africa, southern Asia and Australia, New Guinea and New Zealand. In both South Asia and Australia they are found only in coastal habitats. During their migration they are also found in Asia Minor, coastal Arabia, Iran, Iraq and, in the far East of Asia, predominantly in Vietnam. White-winged Black Terns are breeding migrants to Europe from Africa. Apart from a few suitable wetlands, e.g. in Poland and in the lower Danube river valley, they are mostly found breeding from the Baltic states an Ukraine eastwards. During their migration they can be found in parts of Italy and Sicily (on their way to the North African coastline) and in (near-)coastal Greece and the western coastline of the Black Sea. During the breeding season White-winged Black Terns have a preference for fresh water marshes, often with low, floating vegetation.

Sightings Click here for sighting information D. Wilczynska reports spotting White-winged Black Terns at Biebrza NP, Poland, in May 2017. All photographic and sighting information presented on this page has kindly been contributed by D. Wilczynska.

Photos

ADULT

Sex unknown

BREEDING

Lateral view of a White-winged Black Tern in breeding plumage in flight; note the characteristic white rump (photo courtesy of D. Wilczynska)
[Biebrza NP, Poland, May 2017]

White-winged Black Terns in breeding plumage in flight above a marsh (photo courtesy of D. Wilczynska)
[Biebrza NP, Poland, May 2017]

NON-BREEDING

Two White-winged Black Terns in non-breeding plumage, right, with for comparison two Black Terns, left, and a Black-headed Gull, front, all in non-breeding plumage (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[November 2017]

Lateral view of a White-winged Black Tern in non-breeding plumage in flight (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[November 2017]

More photos in non-breeding plumage were obtained in Australia.

Call(s)/Song

For this species we have recorded the following call(s)/song. The interpretation of their meaning is our own; comments and suggestions for improvement are welcome.

wwbtern_20220116.m4a

(NW NSW)

Contact calls? (+ Pied Stilt)

© MD

More White-winged Black Tern sound recordings are available at xeno-canto.org .

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.

Would you like to contribute photos or sound recordings to this site? If interested, please CLICK HERE. Credits to contributors are given HERE.

Disclaimer: Comments are always welcome. We give no guarantee that the information presented on these pages is always correct or up-to-date. External links are marked as such and we take no responsibility for the contents of external pages. All images on this site are protected by copyright & used by permission of the respective owners. If you wish to reproduce them or any of the material presented on this web site, please contact us: We hereby acknowledge the original custodians of the land which is described on these pages, including the Gomeroi/Gamilaraay people of the North-west Slopes and Plains of NSW, and the traditional owners of other lands and nations within this country. We acknowledge elders past, present and emerging. Sovereignty was never ceded.          Last updated: Thu, 20 January 2022, 6:19 +00:00