page_title: List of birds of Australia
section_title: Gulls, terns, and skimmers
hierarchical_section_title: List of birds of Australia / Gulls, terns, and skimmers
caption_attribution_description: Little Tern Sternula albifrons, non-breeding plumage, with Crested Terns for size comparison
context_page_description: This is a list of the wild birds found in Australia including its outlying islands and territories, but excluding the Australian Antarctic Territory. The outlying islands covered include: Christmas, Cocos, Ashmore, Torres Strait, Coral Sea, Lord Howe, Norfolk, Macquarie and Heard/McDonald. The list includes introduced species, common vagrants and recently extinct species. It excludes species only present in captivity. 957 extant and extinct species are listed.
  There have been three comprehensive accounts: the first was John Goulds Birds of Australia, the second Gregory Mathews, and third was the Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic Birds.
  The taxonomy originally followed is from Christidis and Boles, 2008. Their system has been developed over nearly two decades and has strong local support, but deviates in important ways from more generally accepted schemes. Supplemental updates follow The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World, 2019 edition.
  This list also uses British English throughout. Any bird names or other wording follows that convention.
context_section_description: Order: Charadriiformes   Family: Laridae
  37 species recorded [25 extant native, 12 vagrant]
  
  Laridae is a family of medium to large seabirds, the gulls, terns, and skimmers. Gulls are typically grey or white, often with black markings on the head or wings. They have stout, 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.
caption: Little tern with crested terns
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