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White-cheeked Terns are medium-sized terns. During the breeding season they have a black cap that extends well onto the nape of the neck, white cheeks and light to medium grey front (neck, chest, belly and vent), of which usually the belly is darkest, and grey wings. The black eyes are surrounded by the black cap, while the frons (base of the bill) is also black. The bill is near-black, with a dark-red base of the lower mandible, possibly also all dark-red. The short legs and feet are red. In eclipse the front and cap become white, with some mottled grey feathers above a dark-grey nape of the neck. The bill turns black when not breeding. Juvenile White-cheeked Terns have strongly scalloped upperwing coverts with brownish-grey tints. Otherwise they 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-cheeked Tern is available HERE .

White-cheeked Terns are a partly migratory or dispersive species. Their breeding range around the Indian Ocean extends from the coastlines around the Red Sea, the coast of East Africa to Kenya, the Persian Gulf and along the coast of southern Iran to Pakistan and western India. There is a population of White-cheeked Terns in eastern Asia, South-east Asia and Australia and another population resides in the Caribbean and along the East coast of the US. The eastern African population is sedentary, the rest are migratory.

In Arabia White-cheeked Terns are found mostly as summer visitors, although some birds may spend the winters. They are more numerous along the coastlines of the Red Sea and of the Persian Gulf than along the south-eastern coastline of the Indian Ocean.

White-cheeked Terns are a coastal species that is not found anywhere inland, except in the lower estuaries of major rivers. They have a preference for hunting near coral reefs, while their preferred habitats for nesting are on bare soil, such as sandflats, but also dunes, beaches and rocky shores.

We first spotted White-cheeked Terns in the region around Sur, East of Muscat, in May 2010.