---
title: "Blue-billed White-Tern"
description: "Gygis candida — Vogels. The blue-billed white tern (Gygis candida) is a small seabird found in Pacific and Indian oceans."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/nl/animal/blue-billed-white-tern
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Blue-billed White-Tern

> Gygis candida — Vogels. The blue-billed white tern (Gygis candida) is a small seabird found in Pacific and Indian oceans.

- Scientific name: *Gygis candida*
- Category: `birds` (Vogels)
- Habitats: `sea` (Zee en kust)
- iNaturalist observations: 3696
- Wikidata: [Q116718643](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q116718643)
- iNaturalist taxon: [1649784](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/1649784)

## Names

- en: Blue-billed White-Tern
- de: Seidenfeenseeschwalbe
- es: Charrán blanco pacífico
- fr: Gygis du Pacifique

## Countries with the most observations

US (1788), SC (258), PF (239), AU (192), NF (160), UM (129), MP (109), CK (76), GU (64), IO (50), MH (35), MU (31)

## Summary

The blue-billed white tern (Gygis candida) is a small seabird found in Pacific and Indian oceans. This species was previously considered as conspecific with the Atlantic white tern (Gygis alba) and the little white tern (Gygis microrhyncha), but is now recognised as a separate species. It is known as manu-o-kū in Hawaiian. In the Cook Islands, it is known as the kakaia.

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

## Photo

![Blue-billed White-Tern](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/blue-billed-white-tern/medium.jpg)

Photo: Damien Wallace · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/338525448

## Machine access

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