Chinese Crested Tern

Thalasseus bernsteini

Fewer than 50 adults alive. Presumed extinct for 50 years, rediscovered in 2000. Your message is rarer than this bird.

Population: Fewer than 50 mature individuals (est. 30-49 per 2018 IUCN/BirdLife assessment, Poor quality data from 2013), decreasing; a 2025 BirdLife/Malaysian Nature Society news brief reports the wider consensus total population estimate at ~100-150 individuals (with some outlets citing "fewer than 200"), suggesting the official mature-individual figure may be outdated but not yet reassessed by IUCN/BirdLife
Habitat: Coastal islets and offshore rocky/vegetated islands for breeding (nesting in mixed colonies with Greater Crested Terns); tidal mudflats and pelagic/marine waters for foraging and wintering
Fun fact: Presumed extinct for 63 years after 1937, the Chinese Crested Tern was dramatically rediscovered in 2000 on the Matsu Islands and remains one of the world's rarest seabirds; in February 2025 one was confirmed in Malaysia for the first time since 1913, revealing a previously unknown wintering range along the East Asian-Australasian flyway.
Range: Breeds on a handful of uninhabited islands in the East China Sea (Matsu, Jiushan, Wuzhishan archipelagos off China/Taiwan) with a first breeding record on Yubu-do/South Jeolla Province, South Korea in 2016; winters south along the coasts of the Philippines, Malaysia (first confirmed record since 1913, Sarawak, Feb 2025), Indonesia, and Thailand
Diet: Small marine fish caught by plunge-diving, typically foraging alongside Greater Crested Terns
Size: 0.4 m
Wingspan: 0.94 m
Lifespan: 23 years

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