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Bridled Terns are medium-sized terns. They have a black cap that also covers the entire nape of the neck, connecting to the dark-grey mantle and wings. The black eyes are set into a black eye stripe. Frons and front (throat, chest, belly, vent) are all white. Bill, legs and feet are black. The underwings are white, except for a broad dark-grey trailing edge. Juvenile Bridled Terns have a light-grey frons and front and a mottled grey cap. The upperwings and mantle are scalloped dark-grey with brownish edge lining.

Twitcher's tip

Compared to Sooty Terns, the Bridled Tern is somewhat lighter in appearance.

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 Bridled Tern is available HERE .

Bridled Terns are a global species, with several races across various continents. Nominate race "anaethetus" populates the eastern Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean and the south-eastern Asian waters in between, including the North-Australian seaboard. Race "antarcticus" is found in the Red Sea, the Persian Gulf and the western Indian Ocean. Race "melanopterus" is found in the Caribbean and in western Africa, while race "nelsoni" populates the West coast of Mexico and central America.

In Arabia only race "antarcticus" is found. They are summer visitors to their breeding grounds along the coastline, in particular rocky offshore islands, mostly along the North coast, but also the Red Sea coastline. They are not found anywhere inland.

Race "antarcticus"

Race "anaethetus"