• Summary
• Text account
• Data table and detailed info
• Distribution map
• Reference and further resources

Taxonomic source(s)
Christidis, L. and Boles, W.E. 2008. Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds. CSIRO Publishing, Collingwood, Australia.
del Hoyo, J., Collar, N.J., Christie, D.A., Elliott, A. and Fishpool, L.D.C. 2014. HBW and BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World. Volume 1: Non-passerines. Lynx Edicions BirdLife International, Barcelona, Spain and Cambridge, UK.
Turbott, E.G. 1990. Checklist of the Birds of New Zealand. Ornithological Society of New Zealand, Wellington.

Red List criteria met

Critically Endangered	Endangered	Vulnerable
-	-	-

Red List history

Year	Category	Criteria
2018	Near Threatened	A2ce+3ce+4ce
2016	Least Concern
2013	Least Concern
2012	Least Concern
2009	Least Concern
2008	Least Concern
2004	Least Concern
2000	Lower Risk/Least Concern
1994	Lower Risk/Least Concern
1988	Lower Risk/Least Concern

Migratory status	full migrant	Forest dependency	does not normally occur in forest
Land-mass type		Average mass	129 g

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence (breeding/resident)	3,060,000 km2
Extent of Occurrence (non-breeding)	6,390,000 km2
Severely fragmented?	no	-

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	6120-25120 mature individuals	poor	estimated	2017
Population trend	decreasing	-	suspected	2003-2033
Rate of change over the past 10 years/3 generations (longer of the two periods)	5.2-29.1%	-	-	-
Rate of change over the future 10 years/3 generations (longer of the two periods)	5.2-29.1%	-	-	-
Rate of change over the past & future 10 years/3 generations (longer of the two periods)	5.2-29.1%	-	-	-
Generation length	10.1 years	-	-	-

Population justification:

In New Zealand, S. s. striata has been considered to have a population size of 5,000-20,000 mature individuals, and S. s. aucklandorum was considered to have a population size of 1,000-5,000 mature individuals (Robertson et al. 2017). In Australia, (S. s. incerta) the breeding population is considered to be 120 mature individuals (Garnett et al. 2011). Therefore, the overall population size falls in the range 6,120-25,120 mature individuals.

Trend justification: Based on the subpopulation trends and subpopulation sizes from Garnett et al. (2011) and Robertson et al. (2017), the species may overall be expected to be in decline. The overall rate of decline depends highly on the population size, but would fall in the range 5.2-29.1% over 3 generations (30.3 years).

Country/Territory	Presence	Origin	Resident	Breeding visitor	Non-breeding visitor	Passage migrant
Australia	extant	native		yes
New Zealand	extant	native		yes

Country/Territory	IBA Name

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Marine Coastal/Supratidal	Sea Cliffs and Rocky Offshore Islands	suitable	breeding
Marine Intertidal	Rocky Shoreline	major	breeding
Marine Intertidal	Sandy Shoreline and/or Beaches, Sand Bars, Spits, Etc	major	breeding
Marine Neritic	Macroalgal/Kelp	major	breeding
Marine Neritic	Macroalgal/Kelp	major	non-breeding
Marine Neritic	Pelagic	marginal	resident
Marine Neritic	Seagrass (Submerged)	major	breeding
Marine Neritic	Seagrass (Submerged)	major	non-breeding
Marine Neritic	Subtidal Loose Rock/pebble/gravel	major	breeding
Marine Neritic	Subtidal Loose Rock/pebble/gravel	major	non-breeding
Marine Neritic	Subtidal Rock and Rocky Reefs	major	breeding
Marine Neritic	Subtidal Rock and Rocky Reefs	major	non-breeding
Marine Neritic	Subtidal Sandy	major	breeding
Marine Neritic	Subtidal Sandy	major	non-breeding
Marine Neritic	Subtidal Sandy-Mud	major	breeding
Marine Neritic	Subtidal Sandy-Mud	major	non-breeding
Altitude		Occasional altitudinal limits

Threat (level 1)	Threat (level 2)	Impact and Stresses
Invasive and other problematic species, genes & diseases	Invasive non-native/alien species/diseases - Erinaceus europaeus	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Unknown		Unknown
		Stresses Species disturbance, Reduced reproductive success
Invasive and other problematic species, genes & diseases	Invasive non-native/alien species/diseases - Felis catus	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Species disturbance, Reduced reproductive success, Species mortality
Invasive and other problematic species, genes & diseases	Invasive non-native/alien species/diseases - Mustela erminea	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Species disturbance, Reduced reproductive success, Species mortality
Invasive and other problematic species, genes & diseases	Invasive non-native/alien species/diseases - Named species	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Unknown		Unknown
		Stresses Species disturbance, Reduced reproductive success
Invasive and other problematic species, genes & diseases	Problematic native species/diseases - Macronectes halli	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Negligible declines		Low Impact: 4
		Stresses Species disturbance, Reduced reproductive success

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: White-fronted Tern Sterna striata. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/white-fronted-tern-sterna-striata on 22/12/2024.
Recommended citation for factsheets for more than one species: BirdLife International (2024) IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/search on 22/12/2024.