Little tern
Sternula albifrons (Pallas, 1764)
The little tern (Sternula albifrons) is a bird in the family Laridae and the order Charadriiformes. It is a small, migratory aquatic predator of coastal habitats that forages in the air, with an adult body mass of 57 g and a wingspan of 52 cm.
Quick facts about the little tern
The IUCN Red List assesses it as Least Concern, which is not a threatened category, and checklists record it in Australia.
- Weight
- 55 g – 60 gsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Wingspan
- 52 cmsrc for Wingspan
- Lifespan
- 23.9 yearssrc for Lifespan
- Diet
- Aquatic predatorsrc for Diet
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- coastalsrc for Habitat
- Egg incubation
- 21.3 dayssrc for Egg incubation
- Young per litter or clutch
- 2.2src for Young per litter or clutch
- Age at maturity
- 24 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 little tern?
Photos of the little tern
Only freely licensed photos are shown. Each carries its creator and licence.
Where does the little 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 little tern is listed for 1 country.
- Listed
- Not listed
The same countries as a list
Listed by: ITIS (scope: global), through the Catalogue of Life.
What is the little tern?
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.
From the Wikipedia article “Little tern” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Little_tern&oldid=1369130856), 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 little tern endangered?
The little tern is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.
- LCLeast Concern
- NTNear Threatened
- VUVulnerable
- ENEndangered
- CRCritically Endangered
- EWExtinct in the Wild
- EXExtinct
Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species.
How is the little tern classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classAves
- orderCharadriiformes
- familyLaridae
- genusSternula
- SpeciesSternula albifrons (Pallas, 1764)
Synonyms Sternula albifrons
Other names and names in other languages (60)
- Least ternEnglish
- Kleinseeswael (Kleinsterretjie)Afrikaans
- خرشنة صغيرةArabic
- Малая крычкаBelarusian
- Белочела рибаркаBulgarian
- Skravig c'hwitonBreton
- xatrac menut comúCatalan
- rybák malýCzech
- Môr-Wennol FechanWelsh
- Môr-Wenoliaid BychainWelsh
- DværgterneDanish
- ZwergseeschwalbeGerman
- ΝανογλάρονοGreek
- Ευρωπαϊκό ΝανογλάρονοGreek
- eta ŝternoEsperanto
- charrancitoSpanish
- Charrancito comúnSpanish
- väiketiirEstonian
- پرستو دریایی کوچکPersian
- pikkutiiraFinnish
- FruntaternaFaroese
- Sterne naineFrench
- steàrnan beagScottish Gaelic
- geabhróg bheagScottish Gaelic
- steàrnanan beagaScottish Gaelic
- Sternag vegManx
- שחפית גמדיתHebrew
- kis csérHungarian
- Dara-laut kecilIndonesian
- DvergþernaIcelandic
- fraticelloItalian
- コアジサシJapanese
- 쇠제비갈매기Korean
- Morwennol lyhaCornish
- mažoji žuvėdraLithuanian
- mazais zīriņšLatvian
- мала чиграMacedonian
- ആളച്ചിന്നൻMalayalam
- dwergsternDutch
- dvergterneNorwegian
- rybitwa białoczelnaPolish
- chilretaPortuguese
- chilreta-comumPortuguese
- chiră micăRomanian
- малая крачкаRussian
- Ма́лая кра́чкаRussian
- UhcačearretNorthern Sami
- deaggadirruNorthern Sami
- rybár malýSlovak
- mala čigraSlovenian
- dallëndyshja e vogël e detitAlbanian
- dallëndyshja e detit ballbardhëAlbanian
- småtärnaSwedish
- นกนางนวลแกลบเล็กThai
- kucuk sumruTurkish
- küçük sumruTurkish
- Крячок малийUkrainian
- Малий крячокUkrainian
- 小燕鷗Chinese
- 白额燕鸥Chinese
Relatives of the little tern
Other species in the same genus Sternula.
Least tern
Sternula antillarum
Saunders' tern
Sternula saundersi
Fairy tern
Sternula nereis
Amazon tern
Sternula superciliaris
Damara tern
Sternula balaenarum
Chilean tern
Sternula lorata
CompareLittle tern vs Least ternLittle tern vs Saunders' ternLittle tern vs Fairy ternLittle tern vs Amazon tern
Common questions
Each answer is written from the sourced facts on this page, and only where they hold the answer.
What kind of animal is the little tern?
The little tern is a bird in the family Laridae, order Charadriiformes. It is a migratory species of coastal habitats.
How heavy is a little tern?
An adult Little tern has a body mass of 57 g, with reported values from 55 to 60 g. Its wingspan is 52 cm.
Is the little tern endangered?
No. The IUCN Red List lists the little tern as Least Concern, which is not a threatened category.
How long does a little tern live?
The little tern lives up to 23.92 years, according to the values reported by our sources.
Which countries is the little tern recorded in?
Checklists record the little tern in Australia.
Who named the little tern?
The scientific name Sternula albifrons is attributed to (Pallas, 1764).
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds · CC BY 4.0 · v7
Tobias, J.A. et al. (2022) AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds. Ecology Letters 25: 581–597. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13898. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
Embed a card for this animal on your own site
Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Little tern (Sternula albifrons). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/little-tern
“Little tern (Sternula albifrons).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/little-tern.
@misc{little_tern_2026,
title = {Little tern (Sternula albifrons)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/little-tern},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}