Spectacled Tern

Onychoprion lunatus (Peale, 1849)

Spectacled Tern Onychoprion lunatus is a seabird of the family Laridae that breeds on islands across the tropical Pacific Ocean. Its breeding sites include the Mariana, Phoenix, Line, Tuamotu and Marquesas islands, American Samoa, the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, small islets off Kauai and Oahu, and Johnston Atoll. Outside the breeding season it ranges to north-east Melanesia in the south-west and to far eastern Polynesia in the east. It is sometimes confused with bridled and sooty terns, but it is marked by a grey back and a black line running from the bill to the rear of the head.

Order

Charadriiformes

Family

Laridae — Gulls, Terns, Skimmers

Breeding range

Pacific Ocean: sw to c tropical Pacific Ocean: n Mariana, Phoenix, Line, Tuamotu, Marquesas, American Samoa, Northwestern Hawaiian Is., islets off Kauai and Oahu (main Hawaiian Is.) and Johnston Atoll (s of Hawaii)

Nonbreeding range

to ne Melanesia in sw, and far e Polynesia in e