Black Tern vs White-winged Tern

Chlidonias niger compared with Chlidonias leucopterus

Key Differences

• Black Tern is Least Concern while White-winged Tern is Not Evaluated.

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Black Tern	White-winged Tern
Kingdom same	Animalia (hayvan)	Animalia (hayvan)
Phylum same	Chordata (Kordalılar)	Chordata (Kordalılar)
Class same	Aves (kuş)	Aves (kuş)
Order same	Charadriiformes (Yağmur kuşları)	Charadriiformes (Yağmur kuşları)
Family same	Laridae	Laridae
Genus same	Chlidonias	Chlidonias
Species	Chlidonias niger	Chlidonias leucopterus

Evolutionary Relationship

Black Tern and White-winged Tern share a common ancestor at the Genus level: Chlidonias.

Conservation Status

Black Tern

LC — Least Concern

White-winged Tern

NE — Not Evaluated

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Black Tern	White-winged Tern
Diet	—	—
Average Lifespan	—	—
Average Length	—	—
Average Weight	—	—

Habitat & Geographic Range

Black Tern

Habitat

Typically found in various aerial, terrestrial, and aquatic environments.

Range

Widely distributed across Europe (4 countries), North America (United States), and South America (Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela).

White-winged Tern

Habitat

Typically found in various aerial, terrestrial, and aquatic environments.

Range

Widely distributed across Asia (Taiwan), Europe (4 countries), and North America (United States).

Black Tern

Black Tern (Chlidonias niger) is classified as Least Concern (LC) on the IUCN Red List. Widespread and abundant across its range, with stable populations and no immediate conservation concerns.

White-winged Tern

White-winged Tern (Chlidonias leucopterus) is classified as Not Evaluated (NE) on the IUCN Red List. Not yet evaluated against IUCN Red List criteria. Conservation status remains to be determined.

Shared Countries

Both species can be found in 5 countries:

🇧🇪 Belgium 🇩🇰 Denmark 🇳🇴 Norway 🇸🇪 Sweden 🇺🇸 United States