🎵 Hear this bird singing nearby?Identify its song free →

Elegant Tern

Thalasseus elegans · Species of bird
Order
Charadriiformes
Codes
eleter1, ELTE

About the Elegant Tern

The elegant tern is a tern in the family Laridae. It breeds on the Pacific coast of southern California in the United States and western Mexico, and migrates south to Peru, Ecuador and Chile for the northern winter; in the late summer and fall, some also disperse north to Oregon and more rarely Washington.

Source: Wikipedia

Taxonomy & Classification

KingdomAnimalia
PhylumChordata
ClassAves
OrderCharadriiformes
FamilyGulls, Terns, and Skimmers (Laridae)
SpeciesThalasseus elegans
Species Codeseleter1, ELTE

Frequently Asked Questions

What family does the Elegant Tern belong to?

The Elegant Tern (Thalasseus elegans) belongs to the Gulls, Terns, and Skimmers family (Laridae), in the order Charadriiformes.

How can I identify the Elegant Tern?

The elegant tern is a tern in the family Laridae. It breeds on the Pacific coast of southern California in the United States and western Mexico, and migrates south to Peru, Ecuador and Chile for the northern winter; in the late summer and fall, some also disperse north to Oregon and more rarely Wash...

Where can I report a Elegant Tern sighting?

You can log sightings of Elegant Tern on eBird (ebird.org) using species code eleter1, or on iNaturalist.