Skimmers, Noddies, Terns, and Gulls
Elegant Tern
Thalasseus elegans
- Family
- Skimmers, Noddies, Terns, and Gulls (Laridae)
- Order
- Charadriiformes
Overview
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.
Summary from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Range and habitat
Breeds islands off southwestern California and Baja California and Gulf of California (northwestern Mexico); post-breeding dispersal to coastal northern California, and wintering southward along Pacific coast to central Chile.
Range description: AviList Global Avian Checklist.
Sources and further reading
- Wikipedia: Elegant 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.
