#0625 · 🐦 birds
Sandwich Tern
🇳🇱 Grote Stern ·Thalasseus sandvicensis
9 photos from iNaturalist (Creative Commons) · credits & licences
- 1. © BJ Stacey · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 2. © Antonio Amaral · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 3. © Adrian Antunez · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 4. © Alec Cowles · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
- 5. © Curtis Eckerman · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 6. © Juan Bou Riquer · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
- 7. © Scott Buckel · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 8. © Howard Patterson · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
- 9. © Jerry Oldenettel · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
what is it?
The Sandwich tern ( Thalasseus sandvicensis ) is a tern in the family Laridae. It is very closely related to the lesser crested tern ( T. bengalensis ), Chinese crested tern ( T. bernsteini ), Cabot's tern ( T. acuflavidus ), and elegant tern ( T. elegans ) and has been known to interbreed with the lesser crested.
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 466 times in the Netherlands on iNaturalist.
- 27,261 observations worldwide on iNaturalist.
- Scientifically named by John Latham in 1787 (239 years ago).
fact sheet
- English
- Sandwich Tern
- Nederlands
- Grote Stern
- scientific name
- Thalasseus sandvicensis
- class
- Aves
- order
- Charadriiformes
- family
- Laridae
- IUCN Red List
- LC · least concern
- sightings in NL
- 466
- sightings in Europe
- 10,103
- sightings worldwide
- 27,261
- GBIF records in NL
- 81,404
- weight
- —
- length
- —
- lifespan
- —
- named
- 1787 by John Latham
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
#0648 📷 9Caspian Gull
🇳🇱 Pontische Meeuw
Larus cachinnans
LC 👀 299 in NL
#0664 📷 9Mediterranean Gull
🇳🇱 Zwartkopmeeuw
Ichthyaetus melanocephalus
LC 👀 238 in NL
Sources: iNaturalist taxon 144541, Wikidata Q27547, GBIF 2481240, Wikipedia (EN), Wikipedia (NL). Intro text from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-24.