Fairy tern of extinction for decades. The fairy tern was consequently uplisted to Vulnerable status in 2008. The New Zealand fairy tern has numerous breeding areas, largely incorporating the upper-north region of the North Island. In 2011, there were only about 42 known individuals. With a breeding program in place by the New Zealand Department of Conservation, the population was estimated in 2018 at 43. Fairy tern The fairy tern ("Sternula nereis") is a small tern which is native to the southwestern Pacific. It is listed as "Vulnerable" by the IUCN and the New Zealand subspecies is "Critically Endangered". There are three
Royal tern Royal tern The royal tern ("Thalasseus maximus") is a tern in the family Laridae. The genus name is from Ancient Greek "Thalasseus", "fisherman", from "thalassa", "sea". The specific "maximus" is Latin for '"greatest". This bird has two distinctive subspecies: "T. m. maximus" which lives on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of the North and South America, and the slightly smaller "T. m. albididorsalis" lives on the coast of West Africa. The royal tern has a red-orange bill and a black cap during the breeding season, but in the winter the cap becomes patchy. The royal tern is found in Europe,