White-winged Tern (Chlidonias leucopterus) | Details

White-winged Tern Chlidonias leucopterus

Current view: Data table and detailed info

Taxonomy

Taxonomic source(s)
AERC TAC. 2003. AERC TAC Checklist of bird taxa occurring in Western Palearctic region, 15th Draft. Available at: http://www.aerc.eu/DOCS/Bird_taxa_of_the_WP15.xls.
AERC TAC. 2003. AERC TAC Checklist of bird taxa occurring in Western Palearctic region, 15th Draft. Available at: http://www.aerc.eu/DOCS/Bird_taxa_of_the_WP15.xls.
Christidis, L. and Boles, W.E. 2008. Systematics and taxonomy of Australian birds. CSIRO Publishing, Collingwood, Australia.
Christidis, L.; Boles, W. E. 2008. Systematics and taxonomy of Australian birds. CSIRO Publishing, Collingwood, Australia.
Cramp, S. and Perrins, C.M. 1977-1994. Handbook of the birds of Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The birds of the western Palearctic. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Cramp, S.; Perrins, C. M. 1977-1994. Handbook of the birds of Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The birds of the western Palearctic. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
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. Lynx Edicions BirdLife International, Barcelona, Spain and Cambridge, UK.
del Hoyo, J.; Collar, N. J.; Christie, D. A.; Elliott, A.; Fishpool, L. D. C. 2014. HBW and BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World. Barcelona, Spain and Cambridge UK: Lynx Edicions and BirdLife International.
Turbott, E. G. 1990. Checklist of the birds of New Zealand. Ornithological Society of New Zealand, Wellington.
Turbott, E.G. 1990. Checklist of the birds of New Zealand. Ornithological Society of New Zealand, Wellington.

IUCN Red List criteria met and history

Red List criteria met

Critically Endangered	Endangered	Vulnerable
-	-	-

Red List history

Year	Category	Criteria
2016	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

Species attributes

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

Range

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence (breeding/resident)	27,200,000 km²	medium
Extent of Occurrence (non-breeding)	131,000,000 km²	medium
Severely fragmented?	no	-

Population

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	unknown	poor	estimated	2012
Population trend	stable	-	suspected	-
Generation length	9.9 years	-	-	-

Population justification: The global population is estimated to number c.3,100,000-4,000,000 individuals (Wetlands International 2015). The European population is estimated at 66,600-173,000 pairs, which equates to 133,000-347,000 mature individuals (BirdLife International 2015).

Trend justification: The overall population trend is stable, although some populations have unknown trends (Wetlands International 2015). In Europe the population size is estimated to be fluctuating (BirdLife International 2015).

Country/territory distribution

Country/Territory	Presence	Origin	Breeding visitor	Non-breeding visitor	Passage migrant
Afghanistan	extant	vagrant
Albania	extant	native
Algeria	extant	native
Angola	extant	native
Antigua and Barbuda	extant	vagrant
Armenia	extant	native	yes
Australia	extant	native
Austria	extant	native			yes
Azerbaijan	extant	native	yes		yes
Bahamas	extant	vagrant
Bahrain	extant	native			yes
Bangladesh	extant	native
Barbados	extant	vagrant
Belarus	extant	native	yes
Belgium	extant	vagrant
Benin	extant	native
Bosnia and Herzegovina	extant	native
Botswana	extant	native
Brunei	extant	native
Bulgaria	extant	native	yes
Burkina Faso	extant	native
Burundi	extant	native
Cambodia	extant	native
Cameroon	extant	native
Canada	extant	vagrant
Central African Republic	extant	native
Chad	extant	native
China (mainland)	extant	native
Cocos (Keeling) Islands (to Australia)	extant	vagrant
Congo	extant	native
Congo, The Democratic Republic of the	extant	native
Côte d'Ivoire	extant	native
Croatia	extant	native	yes		yes
Cyprus	extant	native			yes
Czechia	extant	native
Denmark	extant	native			yes
Djibouti	extant	native
Dominica	extant	vagrant
Egypt	extant	native
Equatorial Guinea	extant	native
Eritrea	extant	native
Estonia	extant	native	yes
Eswatini	extant	native
Ethiopia	extant	native
Faroe Islands (to Denmark)	extant	vagrant
Finland	extant	vagrant
France	extant	native	yes
Gabon	extant	native
Gambia	extant	native
Georgia	extant	native	yes
Germany	extant	native	yes		yes
Ghana	extant	native
Gibraltar (to UK)	extant	vagrant
Greece	extant	native			yes
Guadeloupe (to France)	extant	vagrant
Guam (to USA)	extant	native		yes
Guinea	extant	native
Guinea-Bissau	extant	native
Hong Kong (China)	extant	native
Hungary	extant	native	yes
Iceland	extant	vagrant
India	extant	native
Indonesia	extant	native
Iran, Islamic Republic of	extant	native			yes
Iraq	extant	native	yes		yes
Ireland	extant	vagrant
Israel	extant	native			yes
Italy	extant	native	yes		yes
Japan	extant	native
Jordan	extant	native			yes
Kazakhstan	extant	native	yes
Kenya	extant	native
Kuwait	extant	native	yes		yes
Laos	extant	native
Latvia	extant	native	yes
Lebanon	extant	native			yes
Lesotho	extant	vagrant
Liberia	extant	native
Libya	extant	native
Lithuania	extant	native	yes
Luxembourg	extant	vagrant
Madagascar	extant	native
Malawi	extant	native
Malaysia	extant	native		yes
Maldives	extant	native
Mali	extant	native
Malta	extant	native
Marshall Islands	extant	vagrant
Martinique (to France)	extant	vagrant
Mauritania	extant	native
Micronesia, Federated States of	extant	native		yes
Moldova	extant	native	yes		yes
Mongolia	extant	native	yes
Montenegro	extant	native	yes		yes
Montserrat (to UK)	extant	vagrant
Morocco	extant	native
Mozambique	extant	native
Myanmar	extant	native
Namibia	extant	native
Nauru	extant	vagrant
Nepal	extant	native
Netherlands	extant	native	yes
New Zealand	extant	native
Niger	extant	native
Nigeria	extant	native
North Korea	extant	native
North Macedonia	extant	native	yes
Northern Mariana Islands (to USA)	extant	native		yes
Norway	extant	vagrant
Oman	extant	native		yes	yes
Pakistan	extant	native
Palau	extant	native		yes
Palestine	extant	native			yes
Papua New Guinea	extant	native
Philippines	extant	native		yes
Poland	extant	native	yes
Portugal	extant	vagrant
Puerto Rico (to USA)	extant	vagrant
Qatar	extant	native			yes
Réunion (to France)	extant	vagrant
Romania	extant	native	yes		yes
Russia	extant	native	yes		yes
Russia (Asian)	extant	native	yes
Russia (Central Asian)	extant	native	yes		yes
Russia (European)	extant	native	yes		yes
Rwanda	extant	native
São Tomé e Príncipe	extant	vagrant
Saudi Arabia	extant	native		yes	yes
Senegal	extant	native
Serbia	extant	native	yes		yes
Seychelles	extant	native
Sierra Leone	extant	native
Singapore	extant	native
Slovakia	extant	native	yes
Slovenia	extant	native			yes
Solomon Islands	extant	vagrant
Somalia	extant	native
South Africa	extant	native
South Korea	extant	native
South Sudan	extant	native		yes
Spain	extant	native
Sri Lanka	extant	native
St Kitts and Nevis	extant	vagrant
St Lucia	extant	vagrant
St Vincent and the Grenadines	extant	vagrant
Sudan	extant	native
Sweden	extant	vagrant
Switzerland	extant	native
Syria	extant	native			yes
Taiwan, China	extant	native
Tajikistan	extant	native	yes
Tanzania	extant	native
Thailand	extant	native
Timor-Leste	extant	native		yes	yes
Togo	extant	native
Tunisia	extant	native
Türkiye	extant	native	yes		yes
Turkmenistan	extant	native	yes
Turks and Caicos Islands (to UK)	extant	vagrant
Uganda	extant	native
Ukraine	extant	native	yes		yes
United Arab Emirates	extant	native			yes
United Kingdom	extant	vagrant
USA	extant	vagrant
Uzbekistan	extant	native
Vietnam	extant	native
Virgin Islands (to USA)	extant	vagrant
Yemen	extant	native		yes	yes
Zambia	extant	native
Zimbabwe	extant	native

Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas (IBA)

Country/Territory	IBA Name
Belarus	Mid Prypiac'
Burundi	Rusizi National Park
China (mainland)	Wuyumen
Ethiopia	Abijatta - Shalla Lakes National Park
Israel	Carmel coast
Israel	Southern Arava valley and Elat mountains
Kenya	Masinga reservoir
Malaysia	North-central Selangor coast
Malaysia	Pulau Bruit National Park
Malaysia	South-west Johor coast
Mali	Lac Débo - Lac Oualado Débo
Mali	Lac Faguibine
Mali	Lac Horo
Mauritania	Gâat Mahmoûdé
Philippines	Manila Bay
Russia (Central Asian)	Chernoye Lake
Russia (European)	Bryn'
Russia (European)	Kizlyar Bay
Russia (European)	Kozinka lake and Baranikovski segment of Manych
Russia (European)	Nizhnekamskaya flood-plain
Russia (European)	Ptich'ya magistral' area
Russia (European)	Ressetinskiye floods
Russia (European)	Valley of Zhizdra river
Saudi Arabia	National Wildlife Research Center and environs, Taif
Senegal	Lac de Guiers
South Africa	Barberspan and Leeupan
South Africa	Berg River Estuary
South Africa	False Bay Nature Reserve
South Africa	Grasslands
South Sudan	Sudd (Bahr-el-Jebel system)
Sudan	Gezira
Tanzania	Lake Kitangire
Tanzania	Lake Manyara
Tanzania	Lake Rukwa
Tanzania	Lake Victoria: Mara Bay and Masirori swamp
Tanzania	Moyowosi - Kigosi Game Reserves
Tanzania	Serengeti National Park
Tanzania	Yaida Chini
Uganda	Lutembe Bay
Uganda	Sango Bay area
Ukraine	Pryp'yat' river valley
Ukraine	Sosyns'kyj protected area
Ukraine	Stokhod river valley
Ukraine	Udaj river valley
Zambia	Bangweulu Swamps
Zambia	Barotse Floodplains
Zambia	Kafue Flats

Habitats & altitude

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Artificial/Aquatic & Marine	Artificial/Aquatic - Irrigated Land (includes irrigation channels)	suitable	non-breeding
Artificial/Aquatic & Marine	Artificial/Aquatic - Seasonally Flooded Agricultural Land	suitable	breeding
Artificial/Aquatic & Marine	Artificial/Aquatic - Water Storage Areas (over 8ha)	suitable	non-breeding
Artificial/Terrestrial	Arable Land	suitable	non-breeding
Artificial/Terrestrial	Pastureland	suitable	non-breeding
Grassland	Subtropical/Tropical Seasonally Wet/Flooded	suitable	non-breeding
Marine Intertidal	Rocky Shoreline	suitable	passage
Marine Intertidal	Tidepools	suitable	passage
Wetlands (inland)	Bogs, Marshes, Swamps, Fens, Peatlands	major	breeding
Wetlands (inland)	Permanent Freshwater Lakes (over 8ha)	suitable	breeding
Wetlands (inland)	Permanent Freshwater Lakes (over 8ha)	suitable	non-breeding
Wetlands (inland)	Permanent Freshwater Marshes/Pools (under 8ha)	suitable	non-breeding
Wetlands (inland)	Permanent Rivers/Streams/Creeks (includes waterfalls)	suitable	non-breeding
Wetlands (inland)	Permanent Saline, Brackish or Alkaline Lakes	suitable	non-breeding
Wetlands (inland)	Seasonal/Intermittent Freshwater Lakes (over 8ha)	suitable	non-breeding
Wetlands (inland)	Seasonal/Intermittent Freshwater Marshes/Pools (under 8ha)	suitable	non-breeding
Altitude	0 - 2000 m	Occasional altitudinal limits

Utilisation

Purpose	Scale
Food - human	subsistence, national
Pets/display animals, horticulture	international
Sport hunting/specimen collecting	subsistence, national

Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: White-winged Tern Chlidonias leucopterus. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/white-winged-tern-chlidonias-leucopterus 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.