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The Greater crested tern (Thalasseus bergii) is a bird found in Australia, South Africa, Taiwan and India. Warm coasts across the Indian and Pacific oceans, and southern Africa. It eats fish, insects and other small invertebrates and dead animals (carrion). The IUCN Red List lists it as Least Concern.

🏡 Where the Greater crested tern lives

Warm coasts across the Indian and Pacific oceans, and southern Africa.

🍽️ What it eats

• 🐟 Fish70%
• 🐛 Insects & bugs20%
• 🦴 Leftovers (carrion)10%

A rough guide to its diet over a year. Source: EltonTraits (Wilman et al. 2014).

Conservation status

Hear the Greater crested tern

Recorded by David Darrell-Lambert (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0), xeno-canto XC1069486. Trimmed to a few seconds.

Questions about the Greater crested tern

Where does the Greater crested tern live?

The Greater crested tern lives in Australia, South Africa, Taiwan and India. Warm coasts across the Indian and Pacific oceans, and southern Africa.

What does the Greater crested tern eat?

fish (about 70%), insects and other small invertebrates (about 20%), dead animals (carrion) (about 10%). These are rough shares of its diet over a year, from the EltonTraits database.

Is the Greater crested tern endangered?

There are plenty of these birds. Its IUCN Red List category is Least Concern.

More birds from Australia & Oceania

• Masked lapwing
• Noisy miner
• Australian golden whistler
• Indian yellow-nosed albatross
• Eastern yellow robin
• Australasian swamphen

Sources: IUCN Red List (via Wikidata), EltonTraits 1.0 (Wilman et al. 2014), GBIF sightings for countries, Wikipedia. Last updated 2026-10-19.