Least Tern
Sternula antillarum Lesson, RP, 1847
Laridae — Gulls, Terns, Skimmers
Least Tern, Sternula antillarum, breeds across North America and parts of Middle America, with further breeding sites along the north-west Atlantic, the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean. It also breeds from the Great Plains to Texas and northern Louisiana, on the California and Gulf of California coasts to Oaxaca, and in places from El Salvador and Nicaragua to islands off Yucatan, Belize, northern Honduras and islands north of Venezuela. It is a small tern, and is set apart from the little tern by its grey rump and tail rather than white.
- Order
- Charadriiformes
- Family
- Laridae — Gulls, Terns, Skimmers
- Breeding range
- North America, Middle America: Great Plains to Texas and n Louisiana; c California and Gulf of California coasts to Oaxaca (w Mexico), El Salvador and Nicaragua; w North Atlantic coast from Maine to Florida, Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea from Bahamas to Lesser Antilles, islands off Yucatan Pen., Belize and n Honduras, and islands n of Venezuela
- Nonbreeding range
- n SA coast
