White-fronted tern
Sterna striata J. F. Gmelin, 1789
The white-fronted tern (Sterna striata) is a species in the family Laridae, order Charadriiformes. Recorded adults weigh 125.8 g to 131.9 g. Source checklists list it for 1 country: Australia. Its IUCN Red List status is Near Threatened.
Quick facts about the white-fronted tern
- Weight
- 125.8 g – 131.9 gsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Lifespan
- Not recorded
- Diet
- Aquatic predatorsrc for Diet
- Longest recorded lifespan
- 20 years
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- coastalsrc for Habitat
- Young per litter or clutch
- 1.09src for Young per litter or clutch
- Lifestyle
- Aerialsrc for Lifestyle
- Migration
- Partialsrc for Migration
- Conservation status
- Near Threatened (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- 1 countrysrc for Countries on record
Where does the white-fronted 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 white-fronted 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 white-fronted tern?
The white-fronted tern (Sterna striata), also known as tara, sea swallow, black-billed tern, kahawai bird, southern tern, or swallow tail, was first described by Johann Friedrich Gmelin in 1789. A medium-sized tern with an all-white body including underwing and forked tail, with pale grey hues on the mantle and upper side of the wing. In breeding adults a striking black cap covers the head from forehead to nape, leaving a small white strip above the black bill.
This is the most abundant tern in New Zealand. It can be observed feeding on shoaling fish along the entire coastline and many of the smaller outlying islands. Breeding occurs from October to January on rocky cliffs, offshore islands and along the coast where pairs will nest on shingle, sand, shell or rock. Flocks may contain hundreds of breeding pairs that will nest in close proximity to one another. Large numbers of juveniles and some adults migrate to the south-east coast of Australia and parts of Tasmania in the autumn, with small numbers establishing breeding colonies on Flinders and Cape Barren Islands in the Bass Strait.
Due to mammalian predators introduced to New Zealand, such as ferrets and stoats, the white-fronted tern has recently been given the New Zealand national conservation status of at risk/in decline.
From the Wikipedia article “White-fronted tern” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=White-fronted_tern&oldid=1379047590), 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 white-fronted tern endangered?
The white-fronted tern is listed as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List: it is close to qualifying as threatened.
- 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 Near Threatened species.
How is the white-fronted tern classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classAves
- orderCharadriiformes
- familyLaridae
- genusSterna
- SpeciesSterna striata J. F. Gmelin, 1789
Synonyms Sterna striata aucklandorna, Sterna striata aucklandorum, Sterna striata incerta, Sterna striata striata
Other names and names in other languages (39)
- Black-naped ternEnglish
- TaraEnglish
- خرشنة مخططةArabic
- خرشنة بيضاء الجبهةArabic
- Австралийска рибаркаBulgarian
- xatrac de front blancCatalan
- rybák běločelýCzech
- rybák tasmánskýCzech
- Môr-wennol fronwenWelsh
- Hvidpandet TerneDanish
- TaraseeschwalbeGerman
- Weißstirn-SeeschwalbeGerman
- Maoria ŝternoEsperanto
- blankfrunta ŝternoEsperanto
- Charrán maoríSpanish
- uusmeremaa tiirEstonian
- mustanokkatiiraFinnish
- Sterne taraFrench
- שחפית לבנת-מצחHebrew
- crnokljuna čigraCroatian
- fehérmellű csérHungarian
- Sterna frontebiancaItalian
- シロビタイアジサシJapanese
- baltakaktė žuvėdraLithuanian
- TarasternDutch
- Tara-sternDutch
- nyzealandterneNorwegian
- rybitwa maoryskaPolish
- andorinha-do-mar-maoriPortuguese
- gaivina-de-testa-brancaPortuguese
- trinta-réis-de-fronte-brancaPortuguese
- Белолобая крачкаRussian
- rybár bieločelýSlovak
- Beločela čigraSerbian
- vitpannad tärnaSwedish
- Ak Alınlı SumruTurkish
- крячок білолобийUkrainian
- 澳洲燕鸥Chinese
- 白臉燕鷗Chinese
Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistWikidataWoRMSIUCN Red List
Relatives of the white-fronted tern
Other species in the same genus Sterna.
Common tern
Sterna hirundo
Arctic tern
Sterna paradisaea
Roseate tern
Sterna dougallii
River tern
Sterna aurantia
Black-naped tern
Sterna sumatrana
Antarctic tern
Sterna vittata
CompareWhite-fronted tern vs Common ternWhite-fronted tern vs Arctic ternWhite-fronted tern vs Roseate ternWhite-fronted tern vs River tern
Common questions
Answered only where our data holds the answer.
How big is the white-fronted tern?
An adult white-fronted tern weighs 125.8 g – 131.9 g, according to values recorded on Wikidata.
Where does the white-fronted tern live?
Catalogue of Life checklists list the white-fronted tern for 1 country: Australia. Checklist coverage is uneven, so the true range may be wider.
Is the white-fronted tern endangered?
The white-fronted tern is listed as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List, meaning it is close to qualifying as threatened.
What kind of animal is the white-fronted tern?
The white-fronted tern (Sterna striata) 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).
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CreatureData. (2026). White-fronted tern (Sterna striata). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/white-fronted-tern
“White-fronted tern (Sterna striata).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/white-fronted-tern.
@misc{white_fronted_tern_2026,
title = {White-fronted tern (Sterna striata)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/white-fronted-tern},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}