White-winged Tern ( Chlidonias leucopterus, family: Laridae)

white wingedtern kruger national park birds The White-winged Tern (Latin name Chlidonias leucopterus) is described in Roberts Birds of Southern Africa, 7th Edition. This bird has a unique Roberts number of 339 and you will find a full description of this bird on page 469 also a picture of the White-winged Tern on page 432. The White-winged Tern belongs to the family of birds classified as Laridae. According to the Percy FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology the White-winged Tern is also known by these other names: White-winged Black Tern.

The map of the Kruger you see on this page shows the areas (coloured orange) where this bird has been identified. The basic information was provided by the Avian Demographic Unit based at UCT and I created the maps from that information ... the green dots show the locations of the various Kruger National Park Rest Camps

The White-winged Tern is neither Endemic or near Endemic to the Kruger National Park.

In terms of distribution of the White-winged Tern in the Kruger National Park you may not see it in all areas. White-winged Tern : see above distribution map.

Identification assistance for this avian species ...

The White-winged Tern is a smallish bird but somewhat larger than a house sparrow. The height of the White-winged Tern is about 21 cms and its weight is about 60 gms

You will find that the male White-winged Tern plumage and colours are different to that of the female White-winged Tern

  • Head is black.
  • Eye is brown.
  • Bill is red.
  • Throat is black.
  • Back is black.
  • Legs are red.

This bird has normally proportioned leg length.

Main diet items for this bird ...

The White-winged Tern feeds on wing mainly

Aquatic life forms

Breeding and nesting habits for this bird ...

The White-winged Tern takes on more than a single mate (it is bigamous).

The nesting habit of White-winged Tern is extra limital

Habitat and flocking behaviour for this bird ...

The preferred habitats for White-winged Tern are: wetlands

You will normally see the White-winged Tern in flocks.

Names of this avian species in other languages ...

Xhosa ... Unknown

Zulu ... Unknown

Afrikaans ...Witvlerksterretjie

German ... Weiflgel-Seeschwalbe

Portuguese ... Gaivina-d'asa-branca

French ... Guifette leucoptre

Dutch ... Witvleugelstern

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For in-depth birding information please refer to these authoritative avian references ...

Robert's 7th edition number ... 339

The main reference source for this data was "Roberts - Birds of Southern Africa, 7th Edition" . Other references were "Newmans Birds of the Kruger Park" by Keith Newman published circa 1980 . Names in foreign languages were obtained from the Percy Fitzpatrick Institute of African Ornithology, University of Cape Town website , www.fitzpatrick.uct.ac.za