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Blue-billed White-Tern

Gygis candida

Migration Flyway

Showing primary migration corridor(s) for this species

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View on eBirdWikipedia

About the Blue-billed White-Tern

The blue-billed white tern (Gygis candida) is a small seabird found in Pacific and Indian oceans. This species was previously considered as conspecific with the Atlantic white tern (Gygis alba) and the little white tern (Gygis microrhyncha), but is now recognised as a separate species. It is known as manu-o-kū in Hawaiian. In the Cook Islands, it is known as the kakaia.

Source: Wikipedia

Classification

Scientific name
Gygis candida
Family
Gulls, Terns, and Skimmers
Order
Charadriiformes

Similar species

Other members of the gulls, terns, and skimmers family recorded in North America — a useful place to start if you are not certain of your identification.

  • Aleutian Tern Onychoprion aleuticus
  • American Herring Gull Larus smithsonianus
  • Arctic Tern Sterna paradisaea
  • Belcher's Gull Larus belcheri
  • Black Noddy Anous minutus
  • Black Skimmer Rynchops niger
  • Black Tern Chlidonias niger
  • Black-headed Gull Chroicocephalus ridibundus
  • Black-legged Kittiwake Rissa tridactyla
  • Black-tailed Gull Larus crassirostris
  • Blue-gray Noddy Anous ceruleus
  • Bonaparte's Gull Chroicocephalus philadelphia

Know when the Blue-billed White-Tern turns up near you

Add it to your watchlist and draw an alert zone around the places you actually bird. Birdr checks eBird reports and tells you when one is seen inside it.

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