Sandwich tern: Where It Lives, Map & Facts

Where the Sandwich tern lives – recorded in 82 countries, with quick facts from Wikidata and an introduction from Wikipedia.

Scientific name	Thalasseus sandvicensis
Group	Waders, gulls, terns & auks
Status	Least concern (Wikidata, IUCN category label)
Found in	82 countries
Continents	Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, South America
Class	Bird
Order	Charadriiformes
Family	Laridae

Where does the Sandwich tern live?

Open-licence (CC0 / CC BY) wild records published on GBIF place the Sandwich tern in 82 countries and territories across Africa, Asia, Europe, North America and South America. Wikidata gives its range as: Africa, Europe, Burkina Faso.

Countries with at least a handful of records (a minimum share of the species’ records, to leave out vagrants and escapes). Records with coordinates only; captive and fossil records excluded.

Is the Sandwich tern endangered?

The Sandwich tern’s conservation status recorded in Wikidata is “Least concern” (an IUCN Red List category label). Source: Wikidata.

What kind of animal is the Sandwich tern?

The Sandwich tern (Thalasseus sandvicensis) is a bird in the order Charadriiformes and the family Laridae, genus Thalasseus. (Taxonomy from Wikidata.)

About the Sandwich tern

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 both elegant and lesser crested terns. It breeds in the Palearctic from Europe to the Caspian Sea, and winters in the Mediterranean and on the coasts of Africa, India, and Sri Lanka.

The Sandwich tern is a medium-large tern with pale silvery-grey upperparts, white underparts, a yellow-tipped black bill, and a shaggy black crest which becomes less extensive in winter with a white crown. Young birds bear grey and blackish scalloped plumage on their backs and wings. It is a vocal bird. It nests in a ground scrape and lays one to three eggs.

Text in “About” is quoted from the Wikipedia article Sandwich tern (revision 1371756884), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: lead section excerpted verbatim, formatting removed. Quick facts, taxonomy and status: Wikidata Q27547 (CC0). Countries and pin: GBIF.org occurrence records (CC0 / CC BY 4.0).