---
title: "Rybitwa kalifornijska"
description: "Thalasseus elegans — Ptaki. The elegant tern (Thalasseus elegans) is a tern in the family Laridae."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/pl/animal/elegant-tern
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Rybitwa kalifornijska

> Thalasseus elegans — Ptaki. The elegant tern (Thalasseus elegans) is a tern in the family Laridae.

- Scientific name: *Thalasseus elegans*
- Category: `birds` (Ptaki)
- Habitats: `sea` (Morze i wybrzeże)
- iNaturalist observations: 10204
- Wikidata: [Q524893](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q524893)
- iNaturalist taxon: [144542](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/144542)

## Names

- en: Elegant Tern
- de: Schmuckseeschwalbe
- es: Charrán elegante
- fr: Sterne élégante
- nl: Sierlijke stern
- pt: Garajau-elegante
- pl: Rybitwa kalifornijska

## Countries with the most observations

US (6749), MX (857), CL (358), PE (273), CR (101), FR (58), ES (33), PA (31), EC (25), SV (20), NI (18), GT (10)

## Summary

The elegant tern (Thalasseus elegans) 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.
This species breeds in very dense colonies on coasts and islands, including Isla Rasa and Montague Island in Mexico, as well as South Bay Salt Works (San Diego) and Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve in California. Exceptionally, vagrants can occur inland on suitable large freshwater lakes.
The…

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

## Photo

![Rybitwa kalifornijska](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/elegant-tern/medium.jpg)

Photo: steve b · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/155430979

## Machine access

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