Saunders's Tern - BirdForum Opus

Photo by Howard King
Busaiteen, Maharraq, Bahrain, June 2009

Sternula saundersi

Sterna saundersi

Identification

Saunders's Tern has grey rump and central tail. Adult summer has a rounded white patch on the forehead without any white supercilium and more black on primaries.

Similar Species

Little Tern has white rump and tail in most (but not all) subspecies and different shape of white in forehead. In non-breeding plumage, difficult to distinguish from Little Tern but Saunders's has an all white crown without smudging, no evident supercilium, paler mantle, white patches on wing coverts and broader white fringes to tertials.

Distribution

Eastern Africa: Sudan, South Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania, Zanzibar, Seychelles
Middle East: Israel, Arabian Peninsula, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Socotra, Oman, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Iran
Asia: Pakistan, India, Maldives, Sri Lanka
Southeast Asia: Vagrant(?) to Indochina, Malaysia, Malay Peninsula

Apparently winters mainly Seychelles to Maldives and Cocos (Keeling) Island

Photo by AJDH
Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia.

Taxonomy

This is a monotypic species^[1]. Saunders's Tern is closely related to, and was formerly often considered conspecific with, the Little Tern S. albifrons of the Old World. Other close relatives include the Least Tern S. antillarum, Yellow-billed Tern S. superciliaris and Peruvian Tern S. lorata, from South America and Fairy Tern from Australasia. Like all of these, this species was formerly placed in the genus Sterna

Habitat

Strictly marine. Sandy beaches.

Behaviour

Feeds mostly on small fish, crustaceans, mollusks, and insects. Oftens hovers above the water before plunging to catch fish.

References

1. Clements, J. F., P. C. Rasmussen, T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, T. A. Fredericks, J. A. Gerbracht, D. Lepage, A. Spencer, S. M. Billerman, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2023. The eBird/Clements checklist of Birds of the World: v2023. Downloaded from https://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
2. Gill, F, D Donsker, and P Rasmussen (Eds). 2023. IOC World Bird List (v 13.2). Doi 10.14344/IOC.ML.13.2. http://www.worldbirdnames.org/
3. Avibase

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2025) Saunders's Tern. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 2 May 2025 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Saunders%27s_Tern

External Links

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