Large-billed tern

Large-billed tern
at Cuiaba river, Pantanal, Mato Grosso state, Brazil
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Charadriiformes
Family:	Sternidae
Genus:	Phaetusa Wagler, 1832
Species:	P. simplex
Binomial name
Phaetusa simplex (Gmelin, 1789)

The large-billed tern (Phaetusa simplex) is a species of tern in the family Sternidae. It belongs to the monotypic genus Phaetusa.

It is found in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay, and Venezuela. It has occurred as a vagrant in Aruba, Bermuda, Cuba, Panama and the United States.

Its natural habitats are rivers and freshwater lakes.

These birds are rarely found in the UK or in Canada, however, they do appear to enjoy flying individually.

• 
  juvenile at Lagoa do Peixe National Park, Tavares, Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil
• 
  in the Pantanal, Brazil
• 
  in the Pantanal, Brazil
• 
  in the Pantanal, Brazil