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Bird name:

Common Tern

Sterna hirundo

Order

CHARADRIIFORMES

Family

Terns (Sternidae)

BTO 2

BTO 5

COMTE

Euring 5

06150

Breeding Location:

Beaches, sandy or shingle, Seashore, sandy or rocky

Breeding Type:

Monogamous, Colonial

Egg Colour:

Smooth and cream, buff, olive or tinted greenish with black, brown or olive specks, spots, blotches and sometimes streaks.

Number of Eggs:

1 - 4

Incubation Days:

21 - 22

Egg Incubator:

Both sexes

Nest Material:

Depression sometimes lined with vegetation.

Nest Location:

Sandy ground

Migration:

Migratory

General

Common Tern: Medium-sized tern with light grey upperparts, paler grey underparts, glossy black cap and nape. Wings dark-tipped. Red bill is black-tipped. Legs red and tail forked and elongated. Graceful flight, hovers above water before diving for prey. Sexes similar. In winter, bill is black, there is a dark bar on the leading edge of the forewing, and the front is white. Juveniles like winter adults but with sandy-brown on the back, wings, and front, dark bar on the secondaries, orange legs, and bill shorter with orange lower mandible.

Range and Habitat

Common Tern: Migrant breeder in the UK & Ireland. Breeding grounds include most of the UK except for southwestern England where it is scarce. Birds are seen spring through early autumn. Can be found along rocky beaches, on estuaries and marshes. Breeds inland.

Breeding and Nesting

Common Tern: Most nesting is colonial, among rocks and cliffs, on coasts and islands. Both sexes build a shallow scrape in soil or sand and line it with shells, vegetation, and debris. Both parents feed the young, which can fly within a month but stay with parents for several months.

Foraging and Feeding

Common Tern: Feeds primarily on herring, whiting, haddock, small fish. Also eat minnows if near fresh water. Early in the breeding season, may also eat insects, crabs, shrimp, worms, mollusks, fish eggs, and other marine invertebrates.

Vocalisation

Common Tern: Call is a harsh, rolling "kee-urr" with a downward inflection.

Similar Species

Common Tern: The Arctic Tern has very similar plumage, but is slightly larger, has a longer bill and legs, larger head, broader wings, and a shorter tail. The Roseate Tern has more black on the length of the bill and more white in the tail feathers.

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Underparts

Belly, undertail coverts, chest, flanks, and foreneck.

Upperparts

Back, rump, hindneck, wings, and crown.

Cap

The area on top of the head of the bird.

Lower mandible

The lower part of the bill.

Nape

Also called the hindneck or collar, it is the back of the neck where the head joins the body.

Secondaries

Flight feathers that are attached to the wing in the area similar to the human forearm and between the body and the primaries.

4 and 6 letter alpha codes

The four letter common name alpha code is is derived from the first two letters of the common first name and the first two letters of common last name. The six letter species name alpha code is derived from the first three letters of the scientific name (genus) and the first three letters of the scientific name (species). See (1) below for the rules used to create the codes..

Four-letter (for English common names) and six-letter (for scientific names) species alpha codes were developed by Pyle and DeSante (2003, North American Bird-Bander 28:64-79) to reflect A.O.U. taxonomy and nomenclature (A.O.U. 1998) as modified by Supplements 42 (Auk 117:847-858, 2000) and 43 (Auk 119:897-906, 2002). The list has been updated by Pyle and DeSante to reflect changes reported by the A.O.U from 2003 through 2006.

Field Guide to Birds of the United Kingdom