CreatureData

Greater crested tern

Thalasseus bergii (M. H. K. Lichtenstein, 1823)

LCLeast Concernbirds

The greater crested tern (Thalasseus bergii) is a species in the family Laridae, order Charadriiformes. Recorded adults weigh 295.9 g to 334.5 g and live up to 20.3 years. Source checklists list it for 1 country: Australia. Its IUCN Red List status is Least Concern.

Greater crested tern (Thalasseus bergii)
Photo: mattf1996 · CC BY 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Quick facts about the greater crested tern

Weight
295.9 g – 334.5 gsrc for Weight
Length
Not recorded
Wingspan
1 m – 1.3 msrc for Wingspan
Lifespan
20.3 yearssrc for Lifespan
Diet
Aquatic predatorsrc for Diet
Longest recorded lifespan
22 years
Main food
Not recorded
Habitat
coastalsrc for Habitat
Egg incubation
27.5 dayssrc for Egg incubation
Young per litter or clutch
1src for Young per litter or clutch
Age at maturity
23.9 monthssrc for Age at maturity
Litters or clutches a year
1src for Litters or clutches a year
Lifestyle
Aerialsrc for Lifestyle
Migration
Migratorysrc for Migration
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
Countries on record
1 countrysrc for Countries on record

How big is the greater crested tern?

GREATER CRESTED TERN · WINGSPAN 1.3 MADULT HUMAN · HEIGHT 1.7 M
At 1.3 m, the recorded maximum wingspan of the greater crested tern is about 76% of the height of an adult human (1.7 m, a fixed reference used for scale).

Photos of the greater crested tern

Only freely licensed photos are shown. Each carries its creator and licence.

Greater crested tern (Thalasseus bergii)
Noodle snacks · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Where does the greater crested tern live?

Countries where Catalogue of Life checklists list the species. Many checklists carry no country data, so the list is often incomplete. It is not a range map.

The greater crested tern is listed for 1 country.

Australia
  • Listed
  • Not listed
small islands are not drawn at this scale

The same countries as a list

  1. Australia

Why a country list is not a range map

Listed by: ITIS (scope: global), through the Catalogue of Life.

What is the greater crested tern?

Quoted from WikipediaCC BY-SA 4.0

The greater crested tern (Thalasseus bergii), also called crested tern, swift tern, or great crested tern, is a tern in the family Laridae that nests in dense colonies on coastlines and islands in the tropical and subtropical Old World. Its four or five subspecies breed in the area from South Africa around the Indian Ocean to the central Pacific and Australia, all populations dispersing widely from the breeding range after nesting. This large tern is closely related to other species in its genus, but can be distinguished by its darker, battleship-grey upperparts, white forehead even in full breeding plumage, and greenish-tinged yellow (not orange or black) bill colour.

The greater crested tern has dark grey upperparts, white underparts, a yellow bill, and a shaggy black crest that recedes in winter. Its young have a distinctive appearance, with strongly patterned grey, brown and white plumage, and rely on their parents for food for several months after they have fledged. Like all members of the genus Thalasseus, the greater crested tern feeds by plunge diving for fish, usually in marine environments; the male offers fish to the female as part of the courtship ritual.

This is an adaptable species that has learned to follow fishing boats for jettisoned bycatch, and to use unusual nest sites such as the roofs of buildings and artificial islands in salt pans and sewage works. Its eggs and young are taken by gulls and ibises, and human activities such as fishing, shooting and egg harvesting have caused local population declines. There are no global conservation concerns for this bird, which has a stable total population of more than 500,000 individuals.

From the Wikipedia article “Greater crested tern” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Greater_crested_tern&oldid=1370596915), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.

Is the greater crested tern endangered?

The greater crested tern is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.

  1. LCLeast Concern
  2. NTNear Threatened
  3. VUVulnerable
  4. ENEndangered
  5. CRCritically Endangered
  6. EWExtinct in the Wild
  7. EXExtinct

Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species. What the categories mean.

How is the greater crested tern classified?

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumChordata
  3. classAves
  4. orderCharadriiformes
  5. familyLaridae
  6. genusThalasseus
  7. SpeciesThalasseus bergii (M. H. K. Lichtenstein, 1823)

Synonyms Sterna bergii, Thalasseus bergii, Thalasseus bergii bergii

Other names and names in other languages (46)
  • Crested ternEnglish
  • Crested ternEnglish
  • Great crested ternEnglish
  • Great crested-ternEnglish
  • Swift ternEnglish
  • Swift ternEnglish
  • Geelbekseeswael (Geelbeksterretjie)Afrikaans
  • الخرشنة الخطافيةArabic
  • Skrav beg melenBreton
  • xatrac reial becgrocCatalan
  • rybák chocholatýCzech
  • môr-wennol bigfelenWelsh
  • BergiusterneDanish
  • Bergius-terneDanish
  • EilseeschwalbeGerman
  • Charrán piquigualdoSpanish
  • tanutiirEstonian
  • töyhtötiiraFinnish
  • Sterne huppéeFrench
  • Geabhróg chíríneachIrish
  • Sternag chereenaghScottish Gaelic
  • kudrava čigraCroatian
  • üstökös csérHungarian
  • Dara-laut jambulIndonesian
  • BoðaþernaIcelandic
  • Sterna di BergiusItalian
  • オオアジサシJapanese
  • kuoduotoji žuvėdraLithuanian
  • lielais cekulzīriņšLatvian
  • VarevakaMalagasy
  • TrobakamavovavaMalagasy
  • Tararamrv
  • hinduterneNorwegian Bokmål
  • grote kuifsternDutch
  • rybitwa złotodziobaPolish
  • garajau-de-bico-amareloPortuguese
  • Крачка БергаRussian
  • VuoktačearretNorthern Sami
  • rybár rýchlySlovak
  • čopasta čigraSlovenian
  • tofstärnaSwedish
  • TarapapaTahitian
  • นกนางนวลแกลบหงอนใหญ่Thai
  • крячок жовтодзьобийUkrainian
  • 鳳頭燕鷗Chinese
  • 大凤头燕鸥Chinese

Catalogue of LifeWikipediaTAXREFWikidataWoRMSIUCN Red List

Relatives of the greater crested tern

Other species in the same genus Thalasseus.

LC, Least Concern
Royal tern (Thalasseus maximus)

Royal tern

Thalasseus maximus

Laridae

CompareGreater crested tern vs Sandwich ternGreater crested tern vs Lesser crested ternGreater crested tern vs Royal ternGreater crested tern vs Chinese crested tern

Common questions

Answered only where our data holds the answer.

How big is the greater crested tern?

An adult greater crested tern weighs 295.9 g – 334.5 g and has a wingspan of 1 m – 1.3 m, according to values recorded on Wikidata.

Where does the greater crested tern live?

Catalogue of Life checklists list the greater crested tern for 1 country: Australia. Checklist coverage is uneven, so the true range may be wider.

Is the greater crested tern endangered?

The greater crested tern is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, meaning it is not currently at risk of extinction.

How long does the greater crested tern live?

The greater crested tern has a recorded lifespan of 20.3 years.

What kind of animal is the greater crested tern?

The greater crested tern (Thalasseus bergii) belongs to the family Laridae in the order Charadriiformes.

Sources and how to cite this page

Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.

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APA

CreatureData. (2026). Greater crested tern (Thalasseus bergii). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/greater-crested-tern

MLA

“Greater crested tern (Thalasseus bergii).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/greater-crested-tern.

BibTeX
@misc{greater_crested_tern_2026,
  title = {Greater crested tern (Thalasseus bergii)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/greater-crested-tern},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}