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Least Tern

Sternula antillarum ORDER: CHARADRIIFORMES FAMILY: LARIDAE

IUCN Conservation Status: Least Concern

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.

Calls

  • Calls
     
    Recorded by Charles A. Sutherland, Oliver H. Hewitt
    • Courtesy of Macaulay Library
    © Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

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

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bird image Blue-winged Warbler by Brian Sullivan

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