Thalasseus bengalensis
Silhouette: JJ Harrison (vectorized by T. Michael Keesey) · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~70% in a week ~90%
The lesser crested tern (Thalasseus bengalensis) is a tern in the family Laridae. The genus name is from Ancient Greek Thalasseus, "fisherman" from thalassa, "sea". The specific bengalensis means "of Bengal", the type locality, historically referring to Bangladesh and part of Northeast India.
It breeds in subtropical coastal parts of the world mainly from the Red Sea across the Indian Ocean to the western Pacific, and Australia, with a significant population on the southern coast of the Mediterranean on two islands off the Libyan coast. It is an occasional vagrant to Europe, where it has been known to breed in pure and mixed (with Sandwich tern) pairs. The Australian birds are probably sedentary, but other populations are migratory, wintering south to South Africa.
Pale grey above (only marginally darker than Sandwich tern); slightly larger. Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ningaloo Marine Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 2 | Cape Range | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 3 | Komodo National Park | 🇮🇩 Indonesia | |
| 4 | iSimangaliso Wetland Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 5 | Yala National Park | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka | |
| 6 | Bali Barat National Park | 🇮🇩 Indonesia | |
| 7 | Raja Ampat | 🇮🇩 Indonesia | |
| 8 | Lake Nakuru National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 9 | Daintree National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Zanzibar City | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 2 | Dakar | 🇸🇳 Senegal | |
| 3 | Kuwait City | 🇰🇼 Kuwait | |
| 4 | Dar es-Salaam | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 5 | Jeddah | 🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia | |
| 6 | Manama | 🇧🇭 Bahrain | |
| 7 | Kozhikode | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 8 | Dammam | 🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia | |
| 9 | Algiers | 🇩🇿 Algeria | |
| 10 | Kollam | 🇮🇳 India |
Possible
About 30% of wildlife watchers report a Lesser Crested Tern sighting in Dakar on a given day, based on 79 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 31st most-seen of the 152 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 70%, and over a week to about 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
September and November
In those months about 50% of wildlife watchers report a Lesser Crested Tern in Dakar on a given day, against about 10% in February and May–June, the lowest months. Those are among Dakar's wettest months, with about 90 mm of rain a month against almost none in May.
Between 7 and 10 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Lesser Crested Tern sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
2nd of 22
Of the 22 cities where we can rate Lesser Crested Tern sightings, Dakar ranks 2nd at about 30%. The best odds are in Zanzibar City (Tanzania, about 40%).
Same genus: Thalasseus
The closest relatives of the Lesser Crested Tern that you can see in Dakar (genus Thalasseus, Crested Terns) are Sandwich Tern (about 50%) and West African Crested Tern (about 40%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Lesser Crested Tern is recorded against all the birds logged in Dakar (79 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
