Sternula balaenarum
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days <5%
The Damara tern (Sternula balaenarum) is a species of small tern in the family Laridae which breeds in the southern summer in southern Africa and migrates to tropical African coasts to winter. At 23 centimetres or 9.1 inches in length the Damara tern is a small, rather pale tern. In breeding plumage, the adult has a black cap extending from forehead onto the nape and a very pale grey back. In flight, it displays a black triangular wing tip which runs from the carpal joint to the tip of the wing. In non-breeding plumage the adult shows white on the forehead and crown, with a black mask around the eyes extending to the nape. Immature birds are marked with buff bars across the mantle.
The calls of the Damara tern are a high-pitched, sharp "tsit tsit" and quick, harsh "kid-ick". It breeds in western coastal Southern Africa from the Eastern Cape through the Western Cape and Northern Cape into Namibia and Angola; 98% of the population of 14,000 individuals nests in Namibia. The majority of non-breeding birds migrate north reaching Benin, Cameroon, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Gabon, Ghana... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | iSimangaliso Wetland Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
More parks will be added in future updates.
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Damara Tern sighting in iSimangaliso Wetland Park on a given day, based on 7 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 330th most-seen of the 351 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to under 5%, if each day is a fresh chance.
September
In that month about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Damara Tern in iSimangaliso Wetland Park on a given day, against under 5% in October to August, the lowest months.
Between 10 am and 1 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Damara 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.
Only iSimangaliso Wetland Park, in our data
iSimangaliso Wetland Park is the only park on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Damara Tern sightings: under 5% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Damara Tern is recorded against all the birds logged in iSimangaliso Wetland Park (7 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), 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.
