# Whiskered tern (*Chlidonias hybrida*)

Canonical page: https://creaturedata.com/animals/whiskered-tern  
Data as of: 2026-11-11

The whiskered tern (Chlidonias hybrida) is a bird in the family Laridae and the order Charadriiformes. It is a small, migratory bird with an adult body mass of 84 g and a wingspan of 67 cm. An aquatic predator and carnivore, it lives in wetland habitat and has an aerial lifestyle. It is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, which is not a threatened category, and checklists record it in Australia.

## Quick facts

| Fact | Value |
|---|---|
| Weight | 78 g – 90 g |
| Length | Not recorded |
| Wingspan | 64 cm – 70 cm |
| Lifespan | Not recorded |
| Diet | Aquatic predator |
| Main food | Not recorded |
| Habitat | wetland |
| Egg incubation | 18.5 days |
| Young per litter or clutch | 2.64 |
| Litters or clutches a year | 1 |
| Lifestyle | Aerial |
| Migration | Migratory |
| Conservation status | Least Concern (IUCN) |
| Countries on record | 1 country |

## Classification

- kingdom: Animalia
- phylum: Chordata
- class: Aves
- order: Charadriiformes
- family: Laridae
- genus: Chlidonias
- species: *Chlidonias hybrida* (Pallas, 1811)

Synonyms: *Chlidonias hybridus*, *Chlidonias hybridus hybridus*, *Chlidonias hybridus hybridus*, *Chlidonias hybridus hybridus*, *Chlidonias hybridus hybridus*, *Chlidonias leucopareai*, *Chlidonias leucopareia*, *Hydrochelidon hybrida*, *Hydrochelidon leucopareia*, *Sterna delamotta*

## Countries on record

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.

Australia

## Common questions

### What kind of animal is the whiskered tern?

The whiskered tern is a bird in the family Laridae, order Charadriiformes. It is a migratory species with an aerial lifestyle.

### How heavy is the whiskered tern?

The whiskered tern has an adult body mass of 84 g, with reported values from 78 g to 90 g. Its wingspan is 67 cm, from 64 cm to 70 cm.

### What does the whiskered tern eat?

The whiskered tern is an aquatic predator and a carnivore.

### Which countries is the whiskered tern recorded in?

Checklists record the whiskered tern in Australia. Its habitat is wetland.

### Is the whiskered tern endangered?

No. The whiskered tern is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, which is not a threatened category.

### How many eggs does the whiskered tern lay?

The whiskered tern lays 2.6 eggs per clutch and has 1 clutch per year. The eggs are incubated for 18.5 days.

### Who named the whiskered tern?

The whiskered tern, Chlidonias hybrida, was named by (Pallas, 1811).

## Sources

- [An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles](https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1), 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](https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7), 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](https://www.checklistbank.org/dataset/316691), 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](https://commons.wikimedia.org), 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](https://www.wikidata.org), CC0 1.0, 2026-11-11. Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service).
- [Wikipedia (English)](https://en.wikipedia.org), 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).

Cite as: Whiskered tern (Chlidonias hybrida). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/whiskered-tern