• Skip to Content
  • Skip to Main Navigation
  • Skip to Local Navigation
  • Skip to Search
  • Skip to Sitemap
  • Skip to Footer
Help develop a Bird ID tool!

Least Tern

Sterna antillarum ORDER: CHARADRIIFORMES FAMILY: LARIDAE

IUCN Conservation Status: Least Concern

  • Similar Species
  • Related Species
  • Go to:

The smallest of American Terns, the Least Tern is found nesting on sandy beaches along the southern coasts of the United States and up the major river systems far into the interior of the continent.

Donate to Bird Cams
Get BNA: the definitive resource for North American birds

Calls

  • Calls
  • Courtesy of Macaulay Library
    © Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

Alarm call a sharp "zwreep." Also a high-pitched "kee-zink, kee-zink."

Get BNA: the definitive resource for North American birds
Search the Macaulay Library online archive for more sounds and videos