Lesser Crested Tern

The lesser crested tern is a medium-large tern, 35–43cm long with a wingspan of 88–105cm and a weight of 185–242g. The summer adult has a black cap, black legs and a long, sharp orange bill; the upperwings, rump and central tail are grey and the underparts white, and the forehead turns white in winter. The grey rump is a useful flight mark against its close relatives, and the Sandwich tern has a black, yellow-tipped bill. Its call is a loud grating like a Sandwich tern's (Wikipedia, general species account).

It breeds on subtropical coasts from the Red Sea across the Indian Ocean to the western Pacific and Australia, with a notable population on two islands off Libya. Australian birds are probably sedentary, but other populations migrate, some wintering as far south as South Africa. It is an occasional vagrant to Europe, where it has bred with Sandwich terns. SoIB 2023 lists it as resident in India with local movements, estimates a long-term decline of about 50% with a stable current trend, and rates it a Moderate conservation priority (Wikipedia, general species account; SoIB 2023).