Sternula saundersi
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10%
Saunders's tern (Sternula saundersi), sometimes known as the black-shafted tern, is a species of bird in the family Laridae. It is sparsely resident along the shores of the north-western Indian Ocean (namely southern Somalia, Arabian Peninsula, Socotra, Pakistan, Andaman and Nicobar Islands and northern Sri Lanka).
It is a close relative of the little tern, least tern, yellow-billed tern, and Peruvian tern. In non-breeding plumages, the Saunder's tern and the little tern may be almost indistinguishable. The two have been considered by some to be conspecific.
Saunders's tern shares many of the features of its close relative, the little tern, including a white body, a black-tipped yellow bill, and a black cap with a white forehead patch. In its breeding plumage, it distinguishes itself with a straight-bordered forehead patch, possessing more black outer primaries, and duskier colored legs and feet in comparison to the bright yellow legs of the little tern. In non-breeding plumage, the two are very similar.
Saunders's tern is 20–28 cm (8–11 in) long, weighs 40–45 grams (1.4–1.6 oz), and possesses a wingspan of 50–55 cm (20–22 in). It has an average wing length of 16.6... Wikipedia →
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Saudi Arabia · 2022
© David Darrell-Lambert · XC746407 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
| # | 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 Saunders's Tern sighting in iSimangaliso Wetland Park on a given day, based on 33 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 261st most-seen of the 351 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, if each day is a fresh chance.
September
In that month about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Saunders's Tern in iSimangaliso Wetland Park on a given day, against under 5% in October to August, the lowest months.
Between 11 am and 2 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Saunders's 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 Saunders's 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 Saunders's Tern is recorded against all the birds logged in iSimangaliso Wetland Park (33 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.
