Terns (Sternidae)

Arctic Tern (Sterna paradisaea) - HBW 3, p. 653

French: Sterne arctique German: Küstenseeschwalbe Spanish: Charrán Artico

Taxonomy: Sterna Paradisaea Pontoppidan, 1763, Christiansø Islands, Denmark.
Listed as S. macrura in many older works. Monotypic.

Distribution: Iceland, Britain and Netherlands through Scandinavia, and across Asia, almost exclusively N of Arctic Circle, to Bering Strait, with isolated breeding sites in Kamchatka, and northernmost breeding area in Franz Josef Land; Aleutians and N Alaska across to NW & NE Greenland, and S to British Columbia and New York, with isolated colony in NW Washington. Migrates to Antarctica, where spends much of N winter in pack ice zone.