北极燕鸥（学名：Sterna paradisaea）是属于燕鸥科的一种海鸟。分布于北极及附近地区，并于北极、欧洲、亚洲和北美洲靠近北极的地方进行繁殖。北极燕鸥是候鸟，每年经历两个夏季，从其北部的繁殖区南迁至南极洲附近的海洋，之后再北迁回繁殖区（约24,000英里），这是已知的动物中迁徙路线最长的。

北极燕鸥体型中等，一般长33到39公分，翼展76到85公分。其羽毛主要呈灰色与白色，喙和两脚呈红色，前额呈白色，头顶和颈背呈黑色，腮帮子呈白色。其灰色翅膀为305毫米，肩羽带棕色。上面的冀背呈灰色，带白色羽缘，颈部呈纯白色，其带灰色羽瓣的叉状尾部亦然。其后面的耳覆羽呈黑色。

The Arctic tern (Sterna paradisaea) is a seabird of the tern family, Sternidae. This bird has a circumpolar breeding distribution covering the Arctic and sub-Arctic regions of Europe, Asia, and North America (as far south as Brittany and Massachusetts). The species is strongly migratory, seeing two summers each year as it migrates along a convoluted route from its northern breeding grounds to the Antarctic coast for the southern summer and back again about six months later. Recent studies have shown average annual roundtrip lengths of about 70,900 km (44,100 mi) for birds nesting in Iceland and Greenland and c. 90,000 km (56,000 mi) for birds nesting in the Netherlands. These are by far the longest migrations known in the animal kingdom. The Arctic tern flies as well as glides through the air, performing almost all of its tasks in the air. It nests once every one to three years (depending on its mating cycle); once it has finished nesting it takes to the sky for another long southern migration.