Cabot's tern

Cabot's tern
In non-breeding plumage, Venice Beach, Florida
Conservation status
Not evaluated (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Charadriiformes
Suborder:	Lari
Family:	Sternidae
Genus:	Thalasseus
Species:	T. sandvicensis
Trinomial name
Thalasseus sandvicensis acuflavidus (Cabot, 1847)
Synonyms
Thalasseus acuflavidus Thalasseus sandvicensis eurygnatha

Cabot's tern (Thalasseus sandvicensis acuflavidus) is a bird in the family Sternidae sometimes separated from the Sandwich tern (Thalasseus sandvicensis). It has since been shown to be more closely related to the elegant tern (Thalasseus elegans).^[1] The genus name is from Ancient Greek Thalasseus, "fisherman" from thalassa, "sea". The specific acuflavida is Latin from acus, "needle", and flavidus, "yellowish".^[2] The IOC recognizes the bird as distinct, but most other taxonomists, including both committees of the AOU, consider it conspecific with the Sandwich tern.^[3]

Distribution and subspecies

The species is widely distributed in the Americas.
There are two subspecies:

• T. a. acuflavidus (Cabot, 1847) − eastern North America to southern Caribbean.
• T. a. eurygnathus (Saunders, 1876) − Cayenne tern, islands off Venezuela and the Guianas, northern and eastern South America.

Gallery

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  Fishing near Tampa Bay, Florida

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  In Flight, Sanibel, Florida

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  In North Carolina

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  South of Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala

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  From the Crossley ID Guide Eastern Birds

References

1. "Coursers, noddies, gulls, terns, auks and sandgrouse". International Ornithological Congress. Retrieved 2015-01-11.
2. Jobling, James A (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. p. 31, 383. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
3. "57th supplement of the AOU". American Ornithologists Union. Retrieved 2016-09-07.