Skimmers, Noddies, Terns, and Gulls
Royal Tern
Thalasseus maximus
NENot Evaluated
- Family
- Skimmers, Noddies, Terns, and Gulls (Laridae)
- Order
- Charadriiformes
Overview
The royal tern (Thalasseus maximus) is a tern in the family Laridae. The species is endemic to the Americas, though vagrants have been identified in Europe.
Summary from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Where to see it
Destination guides featuring this bird
Range and habitat
Breeds coastal southern California and Gulf of California to Sinaloa and Islas Tres Marias, and Atlantic from Virginia southward to Florida, Gulf of Mexico to s Texas, and Caribbean including peripheral islands southeastward to French Guiana, and disjunctly coastal southern Brazil, Uruguay, and east-central Argentina.
Range description: AviList Global Avian Checklist.
Continents
Countries
- Antigua and Barbuda
- Argentina
- Bahamas
- Barbados
- Belize
- Brazil
- Colombia
- Costa Rica
- Cuba
- Dominica
- Dominican Republic
- Ecuador
- El Salvador
- French Guiana
- Grenada
- Guatemala
- Guyana
- Haiti
- Honduras
- Ireland
- Jamaica
- Mexico
- Nicaragua
- Panama
- Paraguay
- Peru
- Puerto Rico
- Saint Kitts and Nevis
- Saint Lucia
- Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
- Spain
- Suriname
- Trinidad and Tobago
- United States
- Uruguay
- Venezuela
Sources and further reading
- Wikipedia: Royal tern
- eBird: sightings, maps and photos
- xeno-canto: sound recordings
- Birds of the World: full species account (subscription)
- IUCN Red List (threat status)
- AviList global checklist (taxonomy)
Last updated September 29, 2026.
