Least Tern
Learn to identify the Least Tern by ear. Master the "kee-e-e kip kip kip" phrase and tell it apart from similar species.
What the Least Tern sounds like
A long squeal bends downhill, followed by short, sharp eek notes that cut through the colony noise.
How to tell it apart
Lessons featuring the Least Tern
Ready to test your ear? Practice identifying the Least Tern's sounds in this interactive in-app lesson.
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Where you'll hear it
Breeds along Atlantic and Gulf coasts, Pacific coast of Mexico, and interior rivers of the Great Plains and lower Mississippi Basin. Winters mainly along the coasts of Central and South America.
Sandy ocean beaches, barrier islands, salt flats, tidal inlets, and inland sandbars on large rivers. Requires open, sparsely vegetated substrates close to shallow, fish-rich waters.
Arrives on breeding grounds from late April through early May; nests May–July; southbound migration peaks August–September; winters October–March in tropical coastal waters.
How to recognize it by sight
North America’s smallest tern, the Least Tern hovers over beaches and broad river channels before diving for tiny fish. Recreation, development, and altered river flows still pressure nesting colonies; the interior population left the federal endangered list in 2021, while the California subspecies remains federally endangered.
Similar species
Common Tern
Nearly twice the mass; longer wings and tail streamers.
Forster’s Tern
Noticeably larger with longer bill.
Snowy Plover
A shorebird, not a tern—has thick dark legs and no pointed wings.