2025 split
White Tern split: Hawaii's bird is Blue-billed White-Tern
In 2025 White Tern became three species. The white-tern of Hawaii is now Blue-billed White-Tern.
Updated
What changed
The white-tern of Hawaii, and of most of the tropical Pacific and Indian Oceans.
Islands of the central Pacific: the Marquesas and the Phoenix and Line Islands.
Islands of the tropical South Atlantic, such as Ascension and St. Helena.
Who decided, and when
- AviList, the shared world checklist: agrees, writing the names without the hyphen
- American Ornithological Society (AOS): the 66th Supplement to its Check-list of North American birds
- American Birding Association (ABA): followed the AOS on the ABA Checklist
- eBird and the Clements Checklist: its 2025 taxonomy update
Which one did you see?
Go by where you saw it. In Hawaii it's Blue-billed White-Tern. The other two live on islands far from the US.
The three differ in size, shape, bill color and calls.
What it does to your list
For Hawaii birders it's a new name only: your White Tern is now Blue-billed White-Tern.
If you have also seen a white-tern in the South Atlantic or the central Pacific islands, your total may go up by one.
Check your own list. Drop your eBird download or type your birds: the free checker shows which of them this and other recent changes touched.
Check my list