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Elegant Tern | Thalasseus elegans
Sierlijke stern | Charrán elegante
The Elegant Tern is a crested tern of the Pacific coast of North America. Almost the entire world population breeds on a handful of islets in the Gulf of California, mainly Isla Rasa, and in southern California; after breeding the birds disperse along the west coast of the Americas as far as Chile. In the Caribbean it is a very rare vagrant. Vagrants have also been recorded in Europe, where some have stayed for years among Sandwich Terns.
Voice
A grating, rasping kerreek or kar-reek, similar to other crested terns but slightly higher than Royal Tern.
Recording: Paul Marvin — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · shortened to the first 60 s, mono · xeno-canto
Identification
39–42 cm, between Sandwich and Royal Tern in size, slender, with a long, thin, slightly drooping bill that is orange to yellow-orange, often with a paler tip. The crest on the hindcrown is long and shaggy and hangs clearly over the nape at rest. In breeding plumage the cap is entirely black; outside the breeding season the forehead is white, but the black hindcrown still reaches forward to enclose the eye. Upperparts pale grey, rump and tail white, underparts white, sometimes with a pink flush in spring. The legs are black. Juveniles have a paler orange bill and dark spotting on the wings.
Confusion species
Royal Tern Thalasseus maximus is larger and heavier, with a thicker, straight orange bill, a shorter crest and, in winter, a white area around the eye. The Cayenne form of Sandwich Tern Thalasseus sandvicensis has a yellow bill, but it is shorter, straight and usually less orange, and the crest is shorter. Hybrids between Elegant and Sandwich Terns are known from Europe and complicate identification.
Habitat
Coastal waters, bays and harbours, where it rests among other crested terns on jetties, sandbars and beaches. It fishes by plunge-diving, mainly for anchovies and sardines.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation types of the Caribbean.
Range and movements
The first well-documented record for the West Indies is a bird that spent a week among Royal Terns on a dock at Old Man Bay, Grand Cayman, in October 2022. There are also reports from Aruba and a few from Trinidad and Guadeloupe; for most of these the documentation is not known. Outside the region it breeds along the Pacific coast of southern California and Mexico and winters from Mexico to Peru and Chile.
How and when to look
Flocks of resting Royal and Sandwich Terns on jetties and sandbars are where to look for this species. The long, drooping orange bill and the long crest are the first clues; side-on photographs of head and bill are almost essential for acceptance of a record, as aberrant Royal Terns and Cayenne Terns cause confusion.
Conservation status
Near Threatened. Because nearly all birds breed on a few islets, the species is vulnerable to disturbance, introduced predators and El Niño-driven fluctuations in anchovy and sardine stocks. In 2021 about 1,500 nests in southern California were abandoned after a drone crashed into a colony.
Scientific name
Thalasseus elegans | (Gambel, 1849)
Gambel described the species in 1849 as Sterna elegans; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Thalasseus was introduced in 1822 by Boie. Thalasseus derives from Ancient Greek thalassa 'sea'. elegans is Latin for 'elegant, fine'. The specimen the first description was based on came from Mazatlán, Mexico.