Gull-billed Tern

About this species

This species has 422,569 occurrence records from 201 countries and territories (GBIF, 21 October 2026). Most records come from the United States (33.3%), Spain (11.6%), India (9%), Australia (4.7%) and France (4.7%); together they account for 63.4% of the total. In the United States, this species accounts for 0.013% of all bird records in GBIF.

The scientific name Gelochelidon nilotica combines the genus name Gelochelidon with the species epithet nilotica. The Warbla app catalog lists one other species of the genus Gelochelidon: Gelochelidon macrotarsa.

The catalog has GBIF record counts for 101 species of the family Laridae. This species ranks 36th among them; the family’s most-recorded species is Larus delawarensis. Its record count is 48.3% of the family average (874,525). The family Laridae belongs to the order Charadriiformes, which has 340 species in the Warbla app catalog.

More birds in the family Laridae

• Ring-billed Gull
• Lesser black-backed gull
• European Herring Gull
• American Herring Gull
• Black-headed Gull

Credits & data sources

• Wikidata
• GBIF.org