---
title: "Common Tern"
description: "Sterna hirundo — Birds. The common tern (Sterna hirundo) is a seabird in the family Laridae."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/animal/common-tern
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Common Tern

> Sterna hirundo — Birds. The common tern (Sterna hirundo) is a seabird in the family Laridae.

- Scientific name: *Sterna hirundo*
- Category: `birds` (Birds)
- Habitats: `sea` (Sea & coast)
- iNaturalist observations: 70743
- Wikidata: [Q18875](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q18875)
- iNaturalist taxon: [4450](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/4450)

## Names

- en: Common Tern
- de: Fluss-Seeschwalbe
- es: Charrán Común
- fr: Sterne pierregarin
- nl: Visdief
- pl: Rybitwa rzeczna

## Countries with the most observations

RU (17528), US (10408), CA (5304), GB (3164), FR (3079), NL (1717), DE (1670), IT (1511), PT (1135), ZA (1021), FI (1011), ES (915)

## Summary

The common tern (Sterna hirundo) is a seabird in the family Laridae. This bird has a circumpolar distribution, its four subspecies breeding in temperate and subarctic regions of Europe, Asia and North America. It is strongly migratory, wintering in coastal tropical and subtropical regions. Breeding adults have light grey upperparts, white to very light grey underparts, a black cap, orange-red legs, and a narrow pointed bill. Depending on the subspecies, the bill may be mostly red with a black tip or all black. There are several similar species, including the partly sympatric Arctic tern, which can be separated on…

Text: Wikipedia (en), CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_tern

## Photo

![Common Tern](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/common-tern/medium.jpg)

Photo: David Bird · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/79877448

## Machine access

`GET https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/animals/common-tern?lang=en` — see [openapi.json](https://animalchecklist.com/openapi.json).