Saunders's Tern

Saunders's tern, sometimes called the black-shafted tern, is sparsely resident along the shores of the north-western Indian Ocean, including southern Somalia, the Arabian Peninsula, Socotra, Pakistan, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and northern Sri Lanka. It is 20 to 28 cm long, weighs 40 to 45 g and has a wingspan of 50 to 55 cm (Wikipedia, general species account).

It is a close relative of the little tern, and the two can look almost identical in non-breeding plumage. In breeding plumage Saunders's has a straight-bordered white forehead patch, more black on the outer primaries and duskier legs than the bright yellow ones of the little tern. Some authorities treat it as a subspecies of the little tern. Nationally Critically Endangered (Sri Lanka National Red List 2012, listed as Sterna saundersi).