Gulls, Terns, and Skimmers

Laridae is a family of seabirds in the order Charadriiformes that includes the gulls, terns (including white terns), noddies, and skimmers. It includes 105 species arranged into 23 genera. They are an adaptable group of mostly aerial birds found worldwide.

Species in this family

• Grey Noddy Anous albivitta
• Blue-grey Noddy Anous ceruleus
• Black Noddy Anous minutus
• Brown Noddy Anous stolidus
• Lesser Noddy Anous tenuirostris
• Black-fronted Tern Chlidonias albostriatus
• Whiskered Tern Chlidonias hybrida
• White-winged Black Tern Chlidonias leucopterus
• Black Tern Chlidonias niger
• Brown-headed Gull Chroicocephalus brunnicephalus
• Black-billed Gull Chroicocephalus bulleri
• Grey-hooded Gull Chroicocephalus cirrocephalus
• Slender-billed Gull Chroicocephalus genei
• Hartlaub's Gull Chroicocephalus hartlaubii
• Brown-hooded Gull Chroicocephalus maculipennis
• Silver Gull Chroicocephalus novaehollandiae
• Bonaparte's Gull Chroicocephalus philadelphia
• Black-headed Gull Chroicocephalus ridibundus
• Andean Gull Chroicocephalus serranus
• Swallow-tailed Gull Creagrus furcatus
• Australian Tern Gelochelidon macrotarsa
• Gull-billed Tern Gelochelidon nilotica
• White Tern Gygis alba
• Little Gull Hydrocoloeus minutus
• Caspian Tern Hydroprogne caspia
• Audouin's Gull Ichthyaetus audouinii
• Sooty Gull Ichthyaetus hemprichii
• Pallas's Gull Ichthyaetus ichthyaetus
• White-eyed Gull Ichthyaetus leucophthalmus
• Mediterranean Gull Ichthyaetus melanocephalus
• Relict Gull Ichthyaetus relictus
• Inca Tern Larosterna inca
• Herring Gull Larus argentatus
• Armenian Gull Larus armenicus
• Olrog's Gull Larus atlanticus
• Belcher's Gull Larus belcheri
• Short-billed Gull Larus brachyrhynchus
• Caspian Gull Larus cachinnans
• California Gull Larus californicus
• Common Gull Larus canus
• Black-tailed Gull Larus crassirostris
• Ring-billed Gull Larus delawarensis
• Kelp Gull Larus dominicanus
• Lesser Black-backed Gull Larus fuscus
• Glaucous-winged Gull Larus glaucescens
• Iceland Gull Larus glaucoides
• Heermann's Gull Larus heermanni
• Glaucous Gull Larus hyperboreus
• Yellow-footed Gull Larus livens
• Great Black-backed Gull Larus marinus
• Yellow-legged Gull Larus michahellis
• Western Gull Larus occidentalis
• Pacific Gull Larus pacificus
• Slaty-backed Gull Larus schistisagus
• Laughing Gull Leucophaeus atricilla
• Lava Gull Leucophaeus fuliginosus
• Grey Gull Leucophaeus modestus
• Franklin's Gull Leucophaeus pipixcan
• Dolphin Gull Leucophaeus scoresbii
• Aleutian Tern Onychoprion aleuticus
• Bridled Tern Onychoprion anaethetus
• Sooty Tern Onychoprion fuscatus
• Grey-backed Tern Onychoprion lunatus
• Ivory Gull Pagophila eburnea
• Large-billed Tern Phaetusa simplex
• Ross's Gull Rhodostethia rosea
• Red-legged Kittiwake Rissa brevirostris
• Black-legged Kittiwake Rissa tridactyla
• Indian Skimmer Rynchops albicollis
• African Skimmer Rynchops flavirostris
• Black Skimmer Rynchops niger
• Saunders's Gull Saundersilarus saundersi
• Black-bellied Tern Sterna acuticauda
• River Tern Sterna aurantia
• Roseate Tern Sterna dougallii
• Forster's Tern Sterna forsteri
• South American Tern Sterna hirundinacea
• Common Tern Sterna hirundo
• Arctic Tern Sterna paradisaea
• White-cheeked Tern Sterna repressa
• White-fronted Tern Sterna striata
• Black-naped Tern Sterna sumatrana
• Snowy-crowned Tern Sterna trudeaui
• Kerguelen Tern Sterna virgata
• Antarctic Tern Sterna vittata
• Little Tern Sternula albifrons
• Least Tern Sternula antillarum
• Damara Tern Sternula balaenarum
• Peruvian Tern Sternula lorata
• Australian Fairy Tern Sternula nereis
• Saunders's Tern Sternula saundersi
• Yellow-billed Tern Sternula superciliaris
• West African Crested Tern Thalasseus albididorsalis
• Lesser Crested Tern Thalasseus bengalensis
• Great Crested Tern Thalasseus bergii
• Chinese Crested Tern Thalasseus bernsteini
• Elegant Tern Thalasseus elegans
• Royal Tern Thalasseus maximus
• Sandwich Tern Thalasseus sandvicensis
• Sabine's Gull Xema sabini

Lookalikes compared

• Aleutian Tern vs Black-naped Tern
• Audouin's Gull vs Mediterranean Gull
• Belcher's Gull vs Black-tailed Gull
• Black Noddy vs Blue-grey Noddy
• Black Noddy vs White-fronted Tern
• Black-billed Gull vs Kelp Gull
• Black-legged Kittiwake vs Bonaparte's Gull
• Black-tailed Gull vs Common Gull
• Caspian Gull vs Kelp Gull
• Common Gull vs Great Black-backed Gull
• Damara Tern vs Australian Fairy Tern
• Damara Tern vs Gull-billed Tern
• Great Black-backed Gull vs Iceland Gull
• Grey Gull vs Dolphin Gull
• Hartlaub's Gull vs Great Crested Tern
• Herring Gull vs Glaucous-winged Gull
• Least Tern vs Gull-billed Tern
• Least Tern vs Large-billed Tern
• Little Tern vs Arctic Tern
• Pallas's Gull vs Audouin's Gull
• Pallas's Gull vs Black-tailed Gull
• Pallas's Gull vs Sooty Gull
• Relict Gull vs Common Gull
• White Tern vs Grey-backed Tern