Common name: Gull-billed Tern
Scientific name: Gelochelidon nilotica (Gmelin, 1789)

Class:
Aves (Birds)
Order:
Charadriiformes (Gulls, Plovers, and Shorebirds)
Family:
Laridae (Terns, Gulls and Relatives)
Synonyms:
Sterna nilotica Gmelin, 1789
Other common names:

Habitat type(s):
Habitat description(s)
Estuarine:
Bay/sound, River mouth/tidal river, Lagoon, Tidal flat/shore, Herbaceous wetland
Palustrine:
Riparian
Terrestrial:
Sand/dune, Cropland/hedgerow

Ecological systems and subsytems (about):
ESTUARINE - ESTUARINE INTERTIDAL:
Brackish interdunal swales (guide)
Temporarily tidally flooded temperate marshes in interdunal swales dominated by salt-tolerant graminoids. Individual swales occur as small patches positioned between fore-, primary and secondary dunes in a maritime dunes system, typically on barrier islands.
ESTUARINE - ESTUARINE INTERTIDAL:
High salt marsh (guide)
A coastal marsh community that occurs in sheltered areas of the seacoast, in a zone extending from mean high tide up to the limit of spring tides. It is periodically flooded by spring tides and flood tides. High salt marshes typically consist of a mosaic of patches that are mostly dominated by a single graminoid species.
ESTUARINE - ESTUARINE INTERTIDAL:
Low salt marsh (guide)
A coastal marsh community that occurs in sheltered areas of the seacoast, in a zone extending from mean high tide down to mean sea level or to about 2 m (6 ft) below mean high tide. It is regularly flooded by semidiurnal tides. The mean tidal range of low salt marshes on Long Island is about 80 cm, and they often form in basins with a depth of 1.6 m or greater.
TERRESTRIAL - OPEN UPLANDS:
Maritime beach* (guide)
A community with extremely sparse vegetation that occurs on unstable sand, gravel, or cobble ocean shores above mean high tide, where the shore is modified by storm waves and wind erosion.
TERRESTRIAL - OPEN UPLANDS:
Maritime dunes* (guide)
A community dominated by grasses and low shrubs that occurs on active and stabilized dunes along the Atlantic coast. The composition and structure of the vegetation is variable depending on stability of the dunes, amounts of sand deposition and erosion, and distance from the ocean.
ESTUARINE - ESTUARINE INTERTIDAL:
Salt panne (guide)
A shallow depression in a salt marsh where the marsh is poorly drained. Pannes occur in both low and high salt marshes. Pannes in low salt marshes usually lack vegetation, and the substrate is a soft, silty mud. Pannes in a high salt marsh are irregularly flooded by spring tides or flood tides, but the water does not drain into tidal creeks. After a panne has been flooded the standing water evaporates and the salinity of the soil water is raised well above the salinity of sea-water.

* probable association but not confirmed.


Conservation:
Global conservation status rank:
G5
Secure globally - Common in the world; widespread and abundant (but may be rare in some parts of its range).
State conservation status rank:
S1
Critically Imperiled in New York - Especially vulnerable to disappearing from New York due to extreme rarity or other factors; typically 5 or fewer populations or locations in New York, very few individuals, very restricted range, very few remaining acres (or miles of stream), and/or very steep declines.
Federal protection:
Not Listed
State protection:
Protected Bird
Defined as a Protected Bird by New York State law, and the species may not be hunted or taken at any time in New York. Includes birds also defined as a game species, but for which no open seasons are set.
SGCN:
NYNHP track status:
Y: Track all extant and selected historical EOs

More information:
Conservation guide:
https://guides.nynhp.org/gull-billed-tern/
NatureServe explorer link:
https://explorer.natureserve.org/Taxon/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.102273/Gelochelidon_nilotica/