#0716 · 🐦 birds
Little Tern
🇳🇱 Dwergstern ·Sternula albifrons
7 photos from iNaturalist (Creative Commons) · credits & licences
what is it?
The little tern ( Sternula albifrons ) is a seabird of the family, Laridae. It was formerly placed into the genus Sterna , which now is restricted to the large white terns. The genus name is a diminutive of Sterna , "tern". The specific albifrons is from Latin albus , "white", and "frons", forehead . The former North American ( S. a. antillarum ) and Red Sea S. a. saundersi subspecies are now considered to be separate species, the least tern ( Sternula antillarum ) and...
base stats
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 129 times in the Netherlands on iNaturalist.
- 12,618 observations worldwide on iNaturalist.
- Weighs only about 57 g.
- Scientifically named by Peter Simon Pallas in 1764 (262 years ago).
fact sheet
- English
- Little Tern
- Nederlands
- Dwergstern
- scientific name
- Sternula albifrons
- class
- Aves
- order
- Charadriiformes
- family
- Laridae
- IUCN Red List
- LC · least concern
- sightings in NL
- 129
- sightings in Europe
- 6,013
- sightings worldwide
- 12,618
- GBIF records in NL
- 10,313
- weight
- 57 g
- length
- —
- lifespan
- —
- named
- 1764 by Peter Simon Pallas
IUCN in Dutch: niet bedreigd. Blank means the sources don't say.
relatives· Laridae
#0538 📷 10Black-headed Gull
🇳🇱 Kokmeeuw
Chroicocephalus ridibundus
LC 👀 5k in NL
#0540 📷 9European Herring Gull
🇳🇱 Zilvermeeuw
Larus argentatus
LC 👀 4.4k in NL
#0567 📷 10Lesser Black-backed Gull
🇳🇱 Kleine Mantelmeeuw
Larus fuscus
LC 👀 2.1k in NL
#0573 📷 10Common Tern
🇳🇱 Visdief
Sterna hirundo
LC 👀 1.7k in NL
#0581 📷 10Common Gull
🇳🇱 Stormmeeuw
Larus canus
LC 👀 1.4k in NL
#0613 📷 9Great Black-backed Gull
🇳🇱 Grote Mantelmeeuw
Larus marinus
LC 👀 632 in NL
#0625 📷 9Sandwich Tern
🇳🇱 Grote Stern
Thalasseus sandvicensis
LC 👀 466 in NL
#0648 📷 9Caspian Gull
🇳🇱 Pontische Meeuw
Larus cachinnans
LC 👀 299 in NL
Sources: iNaturalist taxon 144529, Wikidata Q12267692, GBIF 5789279, Wikipedia (EN), Wikipedia (NL). Intro text from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-24.