#0573 · 🐦 birds

Common Tern

🇳🇱 Visdief ·Sterna hirundo

LCleast concern 🐦 Birds 📍 in the Netherlands

10 photos from iNaturalist (Creative Commons) · credits & licences

what is it?

The common tern ( Sterna hirundo ) is a seabird in the family Laridae. This bird has a circumpolar distribution, its four subspecies breeding in temperate and subarctic regions of Europe, Asia and North America. It is strongly migratory, wintering in coastal tropical and subtropical regions. Breeding adults have light grey upperparts, white to very light grey underparts, a black cap, orange-red legs, and a narrow pointed bill. Depending on the subspecies, the bill may be mostly red...

base stats

NL sightings 1,736iNaturalist, research grade
worldwide 71,766iNaturalist observations
threat LCleast concern

Bars compare against all animals on log scales: up to 300,000 Dutch and 600,000 worldwide sightings (the most-seen species), 150 t (blue whale), 30 m and 400 years (Greenland shark).

fun facts

Spotted 1,736 times in the Netherlands on iNaturalist: the #42 most seen of the birds in NL.
71,766 observations worldwide on iNaturalist.
Scientifically named in 1758 (268 years ago).