Skimmers, Noddies, Terns, and Gulls
Sooty Tern
Onychoprion fuscatus
LCLeast Concern
- Family
- Skimmers, Noddies, Terns, and Gulls (Laridae)
- Order
- Charadriiformes
Overview
The sooty tern (Onychoprion fuscatus) is a tern in the family Laridae. It is a seabird of the tropical oceans and can fly for years at a time, skimming the sea surface for food, and returning to land only to breed, on islands throughout the equatorial zone.
Summary from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Range and habitat
Countries
- Angola
- Australia
- Bahamas
- Barbados
- Belize
- Brazil
- Cameroon
- Chile
- China
- Comoros
- Cook Islands
- Costa Rica
- Cuba
- Djibouti
- Dominican Republic
- Ecuador
- Equatorial Guinea
- Fiji
- French Guiana
- French Polynesia
- Germany
- Guam
- Guinea-Bissau
- Guyana
- Haiti
- India
- Indonesia
- Ireland
- Italy
- Jamaica
- Japan
- Kenya
- Kiribati
- Liberia
- Madagascar
- Malaysia
- Maldives
- Marshall Islands
- Mauritania
- Mexico
- Micronesia
- Mozambique
- Myanmar
- New Caledonia
- New Zealand
- Nigeria
- Norfolk Island
- Northern Mariana Islands
- Oman
- Palau
- Panama
- Papua New Guinea
- Philippines
- Puerto Rico
- Republic of the Congo
- Saint Lucia
- Sao Tome and Principe
- Senegal
- Seychelles
- Solomon Islands
- Somalia
- South Africa
- Spain
- Sri Lanka
- Suriname
- Sweden
- Taiwan
- Tanzania
- Thailand
- Timor-Leste
- Tonga
- Trinidad and Tobago
- Tuvalu
- United States
- Vanuatu
- Venezuela
- Vietnam
Sources and further reading
- Wikipedia: Sooty tern
- eBird: sightings, maps and photos
- xeno-canto: sound recordings
- Birds of the World: full species account (subscription)
- BirdLife DataZone: status and threats
- IUCN Red List (threat status)
- AviList global checklist (taxonomy)
Last updated September 29, 2026.
