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Wild About Illinois Birds
Jaegers, Gulls and Terns
Family and Species Gallery
Order Charadriiformes - These are small- to medium-sized shore birds. Their toes are usually webbed.
Family Stercorariidae (Jaegers)
parasitic jaeger (Stercorarius parasiticus)
long-tailed jaeger (Stercorarius longicaudus)
Family Laridae (Gulls, Terns, and Skimmers) - Gulls and terns are medium- to large-sized birds, often light in coloration. The bill is hooked at the tip. They have wide, long wings and long legs. The tail is rounded or squared. They fly and move through water very well.
black-legged kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla)
Sabine’s gull (Xema sabini)
Bonaparte’s gull (Chroicocephalus philadelphia)
little gull (Hydrocoloeus minutus)
laughing gull (Leucophaeus atricilla)
Franklin’s gull (Leucophaeus pipixcan)
ring-billed gull (Larus delawarensis)
California gull (Larus californicus)
herring gull (Larus argentatus)
Iceland gull (Larus glaucoides)
lesser black-backed gull (Larus fuscus)
glaucous gull (Larus hyperboreus)
great black-backed gull (Larus marinus)
least tern (Sternula antillarum) [state and federally threatened]
Caspian tern (Hydroprogne caspia)
black tern (Chlidonias niger) [state endangered]
common tern (Sterna hirundo) [state endangered]
Arctic tern (Sterna paradisaea)
Forster’s tern (Sterna forsteri) [state endangered]
royal tern (Thalasseus maximus)