page_title: List of birds of Belize
section_title: Gulls, terns, and skimmers
hierarchical_section_title: List of birds of Belize / Gulls, terns, and skimmers
caption_attribution_description: Laughing Gull, Fulton Harbour, Fulton, Texas
context_page_description: This is a list of the bird species recorded in Belize. Belize includes around 450 smaller cays and islands lying in the Caribbean Sea in addition to the mainland. The avifauna of Belize include a total of 608 species as of January 2020, according to Bird Checklists of the World. Of these, 91 are rare or accidental and four have been introduced. None are endemic to the country.
  This list is presented in the taxonomic sequence of the Check-list of North and Middle American Birds, 7th edition through the 61st Supplement, published by the American Ornithological Society. Common and scientific names are also those of the Check-list, except that the common names of families are from the Clements taxonomy because the AOS list does not include them.
  Unless otherwise noted, the species on this list are considered to occur regularly in Belize as permanent residents, summer or winter visitors, or migrants. The following tags have been used to highlight several categories. The tags and notes of population status are from Bird Checklists of the World.
  Accidental - a species that rarely or accidentally occurs in Belize
context_section_description: Order: Charadriiformes   Family: Laridae
  Laridae is a family of medium to large seabirds and includes gulls, kittiwakes, terns, and skimmers. Gulls are typically gray or white, often with black markings on the head or wings. They have longish bills and webbed feet. Terns are a group of generally medium to large seabirds typically with grey or white plumage, often with black markings on the head. Most terns hunt fish by diving but some pick insects off the surface of fresh water. Terns are generally long-lived birds, with several species known to live in excess of 30 years. Skimmers are a small family of tropical tern-like birds. They have an elongated lower mandible which they use to feed by flying low over the water surface and skimming the water for small fish.
  Black-legged kittiwake, Rissa tridactyla (A)
  Bonaparte's gull, Chroicocephalus philadelphia (A)
  Laughing gull, Leucophaeus atricilla
  Franklin's gull, Leucophaeus pipixcan (A)
  Black-tailed gull, Larus crassirostris (A)
  Ring-billed gull, Larus delawarensis
  Herring gull, Larus argentatus
  Iceland Gull, Larus glaucoides (A)
  Lesser black-backed gull, Larus fuscus (A)
  Brown noddy, Anous stolidus
  Black noddy, Anous minutus (A)
  Sooty tern, Onychoprion fuscata
  Bridled tern, Onychoprion anaethetus
  Least tern, Sternula antillarum
  Gull-billed tern, Gelochelidon nilotica
  Caspian tern, Hydroprogne caspia
  Black tern, Chlidonias niger
  Roseate tern, Sterna dougallii
  Common tern, Sterna hirundo
  Arctic tern, Sterna paradisaea (A)
  Forster's tern, Sterna forsteri
  Royal tern, Thalasseus maxima
  Sandwich tern, Thalasseus sandvicensis
  Black skimmer, Rynchops niger
caption: Laughing gull
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