What Animal Lives Where

Where has the Antarctic Tern been recorded?

Sterna vittata occurrence evidence comes from 240 records in 12 countries and territories, from 1899 to 2025. Most records come from Antarctica.

Antarctic Tern
Antarctic Tern — Photo (display-sized rendition): Butterfly voyages - Serge Ouachée · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
AvesCharadriiformesLaridaeSterna

Observation evidence passport

Evidence found

240 records across 12 countries and territories, 1899–2025.

Sterna vittata · GBIF taxon key 9606968

Source coverage

CC0 GBIF Animalia occurrence facets, including country, month and year summaries.

Refreshed 2026-09-24. Inspect the taxon on GBIF.

What this means

The species has been recorded in the listed places in the stated source universe. Peak month: February.

12 months reach at least 10% of the peak facet count.

What this does not mean

repeated describes the record pattern, not a formal range, residency, abundance or conservation assessment.

A single record remains evidence of a recording, not proof that a population lives there.

Compare this animal’s observation pattern

When it is recorded

JFMAMJJASOND

Peak month: February. Records cluster in the months an animal is present and being looked for, so a summer peak can reflect observer effort as much as the animal.

Records over time

18992025

Recording effort has risen steeply almost everywhere since the 1990s, so a rising line usually shows more observers rather than more animals.

Where Antarctic Tern has been recorded

The countries below show where occurrence evidence exists for Antarctic Tern. They do not define a complete habitat range: survey effort differs by place, and historical or one-off records can appear alongside repeated presence.

PlaceRecordsShare
Antarctica 151
Australia 36
ZZ 14
South Georgia 10
Heard & McDonald Islands 9
New Zealand 6
Argentina 5
South Africa 3
United Kingdom 1
Saint Helena 1
French Southern Territories 1
United States 1

Related animals

Others in the family Laridae.

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Herring Gull
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Black-headed Gull
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Mew Gull
Mew Gull
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Common Tern
Common Tern
519,969 records
Great Black-backed Gull
Great Black-backed Gull
493,641 records
Mediterranean Gull
Mediterranean Gull
263,862 records
Arctic Tern
Arctic Tern
232,790 records
Record pattern: repeated
Repeated records across many years and months. This is inferred from how many years and months the animal appears in, not from a range map — treat it as evidence, not a formal assessment.