Species group · Birds
Marsh Terns
WAnimals has 2 species of marsh tern, all in the family Laridae.
- 2 species
- 1 family
- 58 countries
- 68 parks
- Weight
- 50 g – 90 g
- Length
- 22 cm – 29 cm
- Lifespan
- 12 – 17 years
Ranges calculated from the entries that record the figure, not from all 2.
All 2 species of marsh terns on WAnimals
Each one has its own full entry. This group does not replace them: it brings them together.
Conservation status
No species documented in this group is genuinely at risk according to the IUCN, with the data available today.
See the global conservation statusWhere they live
Recorded in 58 countries. The ones with the most species in the group:
Where to see them
- Albufera de Valencia2 species
- Camargue2 species
- Delta del Ebro2 species
- Parque Nacional de Doñana2 species
- Santuario de Aves de Djoudj2 species
- Tablas de Daimiel2 species
- Aiako Harria1 species
- Aiguestortes i Estany de Sant Maurici1 species
- Aizkorri-Aratz1 species
- Aralar1 species
- Armañón1 species
- Arrábida1 species
Did you know…
It breeds on floating nests anchored to water plants.
From Black Tern
It is the only European tern that is almost black in breeding plumage, a striking contrast with its white and grey relatives.
From Black Tern
It does not plunge-dive like the sea terns: it works the surface of the water in light flight, picking insects off it, a feeding style closer to that of a swallow.
From Black Tern
Its nest is a floating platform of plant matter anchored to the aquatic vegetation: it rises and falls with the water level, a solution that lets it breed in wetlands of shifting level where a fixed nest would be drowned.
From Whiskered Tern
It hunts without submerging: it works the surface of the water in slow flight, picking off insects and fry, a style very different from the plunge-diving of other terns.
From Whiskered Tern