Saunders's tern
Sternula saundersi (Hume, 1877)
The saunders's tern (Sternula saundersi) is a species in the family Laridae, order Charadriiformes. Recorded adults weigh 42.5 g to 60 g and live up to 23.9 years. Its IUCN Red List status is Least Concern.
,_Jeddah,_Saudi_Arabia_(crop).jpg){kind=link}
Quick facts about the saunders's tern
- Weight
- 42.5 g – 60 gsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Wingspan
- 50 cm – 55 cmsrc for Wingspan
- Lifespan
- 23.9 yearssrc for Lifespan
- Diet
- Aquatic predatorsrc for Diet
- Longest recorded lifespan
- 23.9 years
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- coastalsrc for Habitat
- Egg incubation
- 21.3 dayssrc for Egg incubation
- Young per litter or clutch
- 2.1src 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
- Partialsrc for Migration
- Conservation status
- Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
How big is the saunders's tern?
Photos of the saunders's tern
Only freely licensed photos are shown. Each carries its creator and licence.
_in_flight,_Jeddah,_Saudi_Arabia.jpg){kind=link}
Where does the saunders's tern live?
Not recorded
What is the saunders's tern?
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.
From the Wikipedia article “Saunders's tern” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Saunders%27s_tern&oldid=1379872881), 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 saunders's tern endangered?
The saunders's 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. What the categories mean.
How is the saunders's tern classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classAves
- orderCharadriiformes
- familyLaridae
- genusSternula
- SpeciesSternula saundersi (Hume, 1877)
Synonyms Sterna albifrons saundersi, Sterna saundersi
Other names and names in other languages (55)
- Black-shafted ternEnglish
- Saunders' little ternEnglish
- Saunders' little ternEnglish
- Saunders' ternEnglish
- SaunderssterretjieAfrikaans
- خرشنة سوندرزيةArabic
- الخرشنة الصغيرةArabic
- Sandersov susüpürəniAzerbaijani
- Рибарка на СондерсBulgarian
- xatrac menut de SaundersCatalan
- rybák arabskýCzech
- Môr-wennol SaundersWelsh
- OrientdværgterneDanish
- Persisk DværgterneDanish
- OrientseeschwalbeGerman
- arabia ŝternoEsperanto
- Orienta ŝternoEsperanto
- Charrancito de SaundersSpanish
- araabia väiketiirEstonian
- Saunders txenadaBasque
- پرستو دریایی خلیج فارسPersian
- پرستوی دریایی خلیج فارسPersian
- arabianpikkutiiraFinnish
- Sterne de SaundersFrench
- Geabhróg shándairIrish
- שחפית אפורת-זנבHebrew
- Saundersova čigraCroatian
- ádeni törpecsérHungarian
- jemeni törpecsérHungarian
- StúfþernaIcelandic
- Fraticello di SaundersItalian
- アラビアコアジサシJapanese
- Saunderso žuvėdraLithuanian
- Saundersa zīriņšLatvian
- SambimadinikaMalagasy
- ആളചിന്നൻMalayalam
- വെൺചുട്ടി ആളച്ചിന്നൻMalayalam
- Saunder-dwergsternDutch
- Saunders' DwergsternDutch
- araberdvergterneNorwegian
- rybitwa malutkaPolish
- chilreta-do-índicoPortuguese
- chilreta-de-saundersPortuguese
- Мекранская крачкаRussian
- Персидская крачкаRussian
- ArábiauhcačearretNorthern Sami
- rybár hnedonohýSlovak
- temnonoga mala čigraSlovenian
- Soundersova čigraSerbian
- persisk småtärnaSwedish
- Saunders småtärnaSwedish
- Hint Küçük SumrusuTurkish
- крячок мекранськийUkrainian
- 桑德氏小燕鷗Chinese
- 桑氏白额燕鸥Chinese
Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistTAXREFWikidataWoRMSIUCN Red List
Relatives of the saunders's tern
Other species in the same genus Sternula.
Little tern
Sternula albifrons
Least tern
Sternula antillarum
Fairy tern
Sternula nereis
Yellow-billed tern
Sternula superciliaris
Damara tern
Sternula balaenarum
Peruvian tern
Sternula lorata
CompareSaunders's tern vs Little ternSaunders's tern vs Least ternSaunders's tern vs Fairy ternSaunders's tern vs Yellow-billed tern
Common questions
Answered only where our data holds the answer.
How big is the saunders's tern?
An adult saunders's tern weighs 42.5 g – 60 g and has a wingspan of 50 cm – 55 cm, according to values recorded on Wikidata.
Is the saunders's tern endangered?
The saunders's tern is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, meaning it is not currently at risk of extinction.
How long does the saunders's tern live?
The saunders's tern has a recorded lifespan of 23.9 years.
What kind of animal is the saunders's tern?
The saunders's tern (Sternula saundersi) 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.
- 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). Saunders's tern (Sternula saundersi). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/saunderss-tern
“Saunders's tern (Sternula saundersi).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/saunderss-tern.
@misc{saunderss_tern_2026,
title = {Saunders's tern (Sternula saundersi)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/saunderss-tern},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}