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Alternative name: Swift Tern

Photo by Karim Madoya in Lokawi

Sterna bergii

[edit] Identification

[edit] Distribution

Coasts of Africa, southern Asia and Australasia.

[edit] Taxonomy

Several authorities^[1][2] now place this species in the genus Thalasseus.

Sterna bergii has six subspecies:^[1]

• S. b. bergii

• Namibia and South Africa; disperses to Mozambique

• S. b. enigmus

• Islands off Mozambique, Zambezi River delta and Madagascar

• S. b. thalassinus

• Tanzania, Seychelles, Aldabra and Rodriques Island.

• S. b. velox

• Red Sea and north-western Somalia to Maldives, Myanmar and Sri Lanka

• S. b. cristatus

• Malaysia to Philippines and Ryukyus; eastern Australia to Society Islands.

• S. b. gwendolenae

• Western and north-western Australia

[edit] Habitat

Coastal.

[edit] Behaviour

[edit] References

1. Clements, JF. 2008. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to December 2008. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019. Spreadsheet available at http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist.
2. Gill, F, M Wright and D Donsker. 2009. IOC World Bird Names (version 2.0). Available at http://www.worldbirdnames.org/.

[edit] External Links

• View more images of this species on the ABID
• View more images of this species on Orientalbirdimages