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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.

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.

D. Wilczynska reports spotting White-winged Black Terns at Biebrza NP, Poland, in May 2017.

A. Sarok found White-winged Black Terns in Vojvodina, Serbia, in the timeframe 2010-2024.