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Bird name:

Gull-billed Tern

Gelochelidon nilotica

Order

CHARADRIIFORMES

Family

Skuas, Gulls, Terns, Skimmers (Laridae)

Code 4

GBTE

Code 6

GELNIL

ITIS

176882

Breeding Location:

Marshes, saltwater, Beaches, coastal

Breeding Type:

Monogamous, Colonial or solitary nester

Breeding Population:

Fairly common in range

Egg Color:

Pink buff to yellow with sparse dark brown spots

Number of Eggs:

1 - 4

Incubation Days:

22 - 23

Egg Incubator:

Both sexes

Nest Material:

Lined with plant material and debris; rimmed with sand, shells, sticks, and grass.

Migration:

Migratory

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General

Gull-billed Tern: The lightest North American tern. Black cap that extends below the eyes and down the nape, and pale gray upperparts that are darker at the wingtips; short, stout black bill and long black legs; long wings with very long outer primaries.

Range and Habitat

Gull-billed Tern: Fairly common, but local; Salton Sea and San Diego County in California, and along Atlantic Coast.

Breeding and Nesting

Gull-billed Tern: Monogamous; colonial or solitary. Often nest at periphery of other tern species' colonies. Nest on open ground, often concealed in debris among shells, built by both sexes; one to four pink buff to yellow eggs lightly spotted with dark brown. Incubation ranges from 22 to 23 days and is carried out by both sexes. Young fledge in 28-35 days. One brood per year.

Foraging and Feeding

Gull-billed Tern: Flies over farm fields or marshes to catch insects, its main diet. Over water, swoops to catch small prey; also eats frogs, crustaceans, and earthworms.

Vocalization

Gull-billed Tern: Call is "kay-WEK." Also raspy "ge-rek," or "kay-tih-DID." Alarm is rasping "aach."

Similar Species

Gull-billed Tern: Forster's Tern has more slender body, slender, more pointed wings, deeply forked tail, mostly orange bill, and orange legs and feet. Sandwich tern has crest, long slender black bill with yellow tip.

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Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.

Upperparts

Back, rump, hindneck, wings, and crown.

Cap

The area on top of the head of the bird.

Nape

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

Outer primaries

The outer primaries are the primary feathers on the wing farthest from the body. They often appear to be the longest feathers on the wing.

Primaries

The primaries are the flight feathers specialized for flight. They are attached to the "hand" equivalent part of the wing.

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 North America