Whiskered 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, the short
legs and feet are all dark-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
Whiskered Terns have dark leading and trailing edges to their wings
and a black bill. Otherwise they resemble non-breeding adults.
Twitcher's tip
Especially when seen inland, their mid- to dark-grey front during the
breeding season makes Whiskered Terns unique.
The overall distribution of this species can be assessed based
on sighting reports submitted by birdwatchers to the
ebird.org
website.
The global distribution of the Whiskered Tern is available
HERE
.
There are 3 races of Whiskered Terns, which are a partly migratory
species.
Nominate race
"hybridus"
breeds in the warmer parts of Europe and
Asia, mostly from the northern Mediterranean coastline, but also
the lower river Danube valley, eastwards into parts of inland
eastern Europe and the northern shores of the Black Sea and the
Caspian Sea. There are smaller breeding populations in parts of
Asia Minor and along the southern coastline of the Caspian Sea.
This race spends the northern winters in either southern Africa
or along the Indian subcontinent.
Race
"javanicus" populates parts of Indonesia and Australia.
This race is mostly dispersive, rather than migratory.
Race "delalandii" is resident in eastern and southern Africa.
In Arabia Whiskered Terns, nominate race "hybridus", are mostly
found on passage or as winter visitors, especially along the East
coast.
Whiskered Terns can be found in estuaries and flooded
saltmarshes, but also in the shallows of freshwater lakes and
ephemeral lakes, especially with emerging vegetation.
Sightings
Click here for sighting information
We have not seen Whiskered Terns in Oman yet, but have spotted race
"hybridus"
in Europe.
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.
Description
Classification
Distribution
Sightings
Photos
Breeding
Nest
Eggs
Behaviour
Food
Call/s
Click here for a physical description
are welcome.