Sternula albifrons
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~40%
The little tern (Sternula albifrons) is a small seabird of the family Laridae. It is widely distributed breeding on the coasts and inland waterways of Europe, Asia, north and west Africa, and eastern Australia. It winters in the subtropical and tropical oceans as far south as South Africa and Australia.
The little tern was formally described in a sales catalogue by the German naturalist Peter Simon Pallas in 1764 under the binomial name Sterna albifrons. The type locality is Holland in the Netherlands. The species was moved to the genus Sternula when the genus Sterna was restricted to the larger typical terns. The genus name Sternula is a diminutive of Sterna, 'tern', while the specific name albifrons is from Latin albus, 'white', and frons, 'forehead'.
Four subspecies are recognised: Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bali Barat National Park | 🇮🇩 Indonesia | |
| 2 | Sundarbans National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 3 | Yala National Park | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka | |
| 4 | Bako National Park | 🇲🇾 Malaysia | |
| 5 | West Coast National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 6 | iSimangaliso Wetland Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 7 | Camargue | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 8 | Doñana National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 9 | Noosa National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 10 | Wilpattu National Park | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka | |
| 11 | Satpura National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 12 | Wadden Sea National Park | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 13 | Udawalawe National Park | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka | |
| 14 | Komodo National Park | 🇮🇩 Indonesia | |
| 15 | Ningaloo Marine Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 16 | Cape Range | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 17 | Wilsons Promontory National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 18 | Tangkoko Nature Reserve | 🇮🇩 Indonesia | |
| 19 | Raja Ampat | 🇮🇩 Indonesia | |
| 20 | Minneriya National Park | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka | |
| 21 | Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary | 🇲🇾 Malaysia | |
| 22 | Daintree National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 23 | Nagarhole National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 24 | Monfragüe National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Denpasar | 🇮🇩 Indonesia | |
| 2 | Manama | 🇧🇭 Bahrain | |
| 3 | Makassar | 🇮🇩 Indonesia | |
| 4 | Dakar | 🇸🇳 Senegal | |
| 5 | Novosibirsk | 🇷🇺 Russia | |
| 6 | Kuching | 🇲🇾 Malaysia | |
| 7 | Naha | 🇯🇵 Japan | |
| 8 | Karachi | 🇵🇰 Pakistan | |
| 9 | Nizhny Novgorod | 🇷🇺 Russia | |
| 10 | Kuwait City | 🇰🇼 Kuwait |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Little Tern sighting in Wilpattu National Park on a given day, based on 32 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 122nd most-seen of the 169 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 40%, if each day is a fresh chance.
May
In that month about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Little Tern in Wilpattu National Park on a given day, against under 5% in April, June and August, the lowest months.
Between 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Little Tern sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
10th of 24
Of the 24 parks where we can rate Little Tern sightings, Wilpattu National Park ranks 10th at about 10%. The best odds are in Bali Barat National Park (Indonesia, about 30%), Sundarbans National Park (India, about 20%) and Yala National Park (Sri Lanka, about 20%).
Same family: Laridae
The closest relatives of the Little Tern that you can see in Wilpattu National Park (family Laridae, Gulls, Terns, and Skimmers) are Whiskered Tern (about 40%) and Gull-billed Tern (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Little Tern is recorded against all the birds logged in Wilpattu National Park (32 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.
