Sterna saundersi

Taxonomy

Assessment Information

Geographic Range

Population

Habitat and Ecology

Threats

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Taxonomy [top]

Kingdom	Phylum	Class	Order	Family
ANIMALIA	CHORDATA	AVES	CHARADRIIFORMES	LARIDAE

Scientific Name:

Sterna saundersi

Species Authority:

Hume, 1877

Common Name/s:

English	–	Saunders' Little Tern, Saunders's Tern
French	–	Sterne de Saunders

Taxonomic Notes:

The BirdLife Taxonomic Working Group is aware that phylogenetic analyses have been published which have proposed generic rearrangements which may affect this species, but prefers to wait until work by other taxonomists reveals how these changes affect the entire groups involved.

Assessment Information [top]

Red List Category & Criteria:

Least Concern ver 3.1

Year Published:

2012

Assessor/s:

BirdLife International

Reviewer/s:

Butchart, S. & Symes, A.

Contributor/s:

Justification:
This species has a very large range, and hence does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the range size criterion (Extent of Occurrence <20,000 km2 combined with a declining or fluctuating range size, habitat extent/quality, or population size and a small number of locations or severe fragmentation). Despite the fact that the population trend appears to be decreasing, the decline is not believed to be sufficiently rapid to approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population trend criterion (>30% decline over ten years or three generations). The population size may be moderately small to large, but it is not believed to approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population size criterion (<10,000 mature individuals with a continuing decline estimated to be >10% in ten years or three generations, or with a specified population structure). For these reasons the species is evaluated as Least Concern.

History:

2009	–	Least Concern
2008	–	Least Concern
2004	–	Least Concern

Geographic Range [top]

Range Description:	This poorly known species breeds along the coasts of the Red Sea south to Socotra (Yemen) and Somalia, and around the Persian Gulf off Saudi Arabia, Iran and Oman, to north-west India, Sri Lanka, Adu Atoll (Maldives), and possibly the Amirantes and Seychelles (del Hoyo et al. 1996). North-east African birds move south as far as Tanzania in winter, and birds around the Red Sea also move south within the breeding range. Birds in south-east Somalia, Sudan and Socotra are resident. Other populations appear to migrate eastwards to the west coast of India, Sri Lanka, Laccadives (to India) and Maldives, Seychelles and Malaysia (Snow and Perrins 1998). The location of its breeding colonies is mostly unknown, but in Iran, c.150 pairs nested in the 1970s in seven colonies, a small population was known to breed in Bahrain which appeared to decrease substantially from 1969-1971 to 1981, and 29+ pairs bred in 1983 on the Farasan Archipelago in Saudi Arabia (Gallagher et al. 1984).
Countries:	Native: Bahrain; Djibouti; Eritrea; India; Iran, Islamic Republic of; Kenya; Kuwait; Madagascar; Maldives; Oman; Pakistan; Qatar; Saudi Arabia; Seychelles; Somalia; Sri Lanka; Sudan; Tanzania, United Republic of; United Arab Emirates; Yemen Vagrant: Israel Present - origin uncertain: Egypt; Iraq
Range Map:	Click here to open the map viewer and explore range.

Population [top]

Population Trend:	Decreasing

Population Trend:

Decreasing

Habitat and Ecology [top]

Habitat and Ecology:	Behaviour The movements of this species are not well known although many individuals winter outside of their breeding range (del Hoyo et al. 1996). The species breeds in solitary pairs or small loose colonies of 5-30 pairs (Gallagher et al. 1984, del Hoyo et al. 1996, Snow and Perrins 1998). It inhabits shallow tropical and subtropical inshore waters, estuaries, tidal lagoons and harbours often feeding up to 15 km offshore and nesting up to 2 km inland (del Hoyo et al. 1996, Snow and Perrins 1998). Diet consists of small fish, crustaceans, molluscs and insects (del Hoyo et al. 1996). The nest is a hollow (e.g. an animal footprint) in bare sand, shingle or dried mud just above the high tide line on beaches, on mudflats or up to 2 km inland (del Hoyo et al. 1996, Snow and Perrins 1998). It shows a preference for nesting on small mounds of wind-blown sand surrounding plants or other objects, and in breeding colonies neighbouring nests are usually placed between 20 and 100 m apart (del Hoyo et al. 1996).
Systems:	Terrestrial; Marine

Habitat and Ecology:

Behaviour The movements of this species are not well known although many individuals winter outside of their breeding range (del Hoyo et al. 1996). The species breeds in solitary pairs or small loose colonies of 5-30 pairs (Gallagher et al. 1984, del Hoyo et al. 1996, Snow and Perrins 1998). It inhabits shallow tropical and subtropical inshore waters, estuaries, tidal lagoons and harbours often feeding up to 15 km offshore and nesting up to 2 km inland (del Hoyo et al. 1996, Snow and Perrins 1998). Diet consists of small fish, crustaceans, molluscs and insects (del Hoyo et al. 1996). The nest is a hollow (e.g. an animal footprint) in bare sand, shingle or dried mud just above the high tide line on beaches, on mudflats or up to 2 km inland (del Hoyo et al. 1996, Snow and Perrins 1998). It shows a preference for nesting on small mounds of wind-blown sand surrounding plants or other objects, and in breeding colonies neighbouring nests are usually placed between 20 and 100 m apart (del Hoyo et al. 1996).

Systems:

Terrestrial; Marine

Threats [top]

Major Threat(s):	The species is threatened by the development and industrial reclamation of coastal breeding habitats and is highly vulnerable to human disturbance (including birdwatchers) at coastal and inland nesting sites (del Hoyo et al. 1996).

Major Threat(s):

The species is threatened by the development and industrial reclamation of coastal breeding habitats and is highly vulnerable to human disturbance (including birdwatchers) at coastal and inland nesting sites (del Hoyo et al. 1996).

Citation:	BirdLife International 2012. Sterna saundersi. In: IUCN 2012. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2012.2. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 23 May 2013.
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