Listen to the Caspian tern
Tip: press play to see the sound's live frequency spectrum in blue over the waveform.
About the Caspian tern
The Caspian tern is a bird in the family Laridae (order Charadriiformes). Its conservation status on the IUCN Red List is “least concern”. Adults have a wingspan of about 134 cm and weigh around 680 g.
What does the Caspian tern sound like?
Bird vocalisations are usually divided into songs – longer, often complex phrases used to defend territory and attract mates, sung mostly by males in the breeding season – and calls: short, simple sounds for contact, alarm, begging or flight.
The recordings here are labelled as flight call and nocturnal flight call. Listen for differences in rhythm, pitch and repetition – the spectrum display makes it easy to see whether a sound is a pure whistle (a thin line), a harsh call (a broad band) or a trill (rapid repeated marks).
From Wikipedia
The Caspian tern (Hydroprogne caspia) is the world's largest species of tern, with a subcosmopolitan but scattered distribution. Despite its extensive range, it is monotypic of its genus, and has no accepted subspecies. The genus name is from Ancient Greek hudro-, "water-", and Latin progne, "swallow". The specific caspia is from Latin and, like the English name, refers to the Caspian Sea.
More from the family Laridae
Black-headed gull
Chroicocephalus ridibundus
European herring gull
Larus argentatus
Common tern
Sterna hirundo
Common gull
Larus canus
Lesser black-backed gull
Larus fuscus
Arctic tern
Sterna paradisaea
Black-legged kittiwake
Rissa tridactyla
Gull-billed tern
Gelochelidon nilotica
Great black-backed gull
Larus marinus
Black tern
Chlidonias niger
Sandwich tern
Thalasseus sandvicensis
Yellow-legged gull
Larus michahellis
Frequently asked questions
What does a Caspian tern sound like?
You can hear 2 recordings of the Caspian tern on this page, including its flight call and nocturnal flight call. Bird vocalisations are usually divided into songs – longer, often complex phrases used to defend territory and attract mates, sung mostly by males in the breeding season – and calls: short, simple sounds for contact, alarm, begging or flight.
Is the Caspian tern endangered?
The IUCN Red List classifies the Caspian tern as “least concern”.
What family does the Caspian tern belong to?
The Caspian tern (Hydroprogne caspia) belongs to the family Laridae in the order Charadriiformes.
Sources & credits
- Flight call, nocturnal flight call · Arnhem, Arnhem, Gelderland, Netherlands by Joost van Bruggen – CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
- Flight call · Arnhem, Arnhem, Gelderland, Netherlands by Joost van Bruggen – CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
- Wikidata Q27129 – CC0
- Wikipedia: Caspian tern – CC BY-SA 4.0
- Photo by Mdf – CC BY-SA 3.0