Sandwich Tern

Hosts on Spekboom have recorded the Sandwich Tern at stays in or beside Goukamma Nature Reserve, Table Mountain National Park, iSimangaliso Wetland Park, Keurbooms River Nature Reserve, Kogelberg Nature Reserve and Robberg Nature Reserve. A record means a host has seen it on the property or nearby, which makes these the places to base yourself; it is never a guarantee of a sighting on any given day.

The Sandwich Tern is most recorded in Western Cape (74% of records), KwaZulu-Natal (14% of records), Eastern Cape (12% of records), based on 942 iNaturalist observations. 16 places to stay on Spekboom in South Africa have recorded the Sandwich Tern on site or nearby.

The Sandwich Tern is recorded throughout the year, so no month is the wrong month to look for it. For the parks where hosts record it most, these are the best seasons they give. Goukamma Nature Reserve: year-round, warm Oct-Apr; Table Mountain National Park: Sep-Apr, flowers Aug-Oct; iSimangaliso Wetland Park: year-round, dry season May-Sep; Keurbooms River Nature Reserve: year-round. In the dry months animals concentrate at water and the grass is short.

The Sandwich tern (Thalasseus sandvicensis) is a tern in the family Laridae. It is very closely related to the lesser crested tern (T. bengalensis), Chinese crested tern (T. bernsteini), Cabot's tern (T. acuflavidus), and elegant tern (T. elegans) and has been known to interbreed with the lesser crested.