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
The Least Tern is North America’s smallest tern, a dainty seabird of bright sandy beaches and wide, braided river channels. Agile and buoyant in flight, it hovers briefly before plunging for tiny fish it spots in the shallow surf or river shallows. Once nearly extirpated by the millinery trade and continuing to decline from habitat loss and disturbance, the species is now listed as threatened or endangered across much of its range.
“kee-e-e kip kip kip”
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
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.
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.