Spectacled Tern (Onychoprion lunatus)
About the Spectacled Tern
The spectacled tern (Onychoprion lunatus), also known as the grey-backed tern, is a seabird in the family Laridae. A close relative of the bridled and sooty terns (with which it is sometimes confused), the spectacled tern is less common than the other members of its genus and it has been studied less. The three species, along with the Aleutian tern were recently split into a new genus Onychoprion from Sterna (Bridge et al., 2005). They resemble the sooty tern but with a grey back instead of a black one. Their breast and underparts are white, and they have a black eye line from the bill to the back of the head.
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We only publish recordings we may use commercially, because this site is supported by ads. xeno-canto lists 2 recordings for this species: 2 CC BY-NC-SA. None of them permits commercial use, so there is no player here — the page is kept as a profile so the bird is not missing from the guide.
As soon as someone uploads a freely licensed recording, we mirror it and the player appears here.
Listed as recorded in United States in the xeno-canto catalogue.