Gull-billed Tern

Gelochelidon niloticaOrder: CHARADRIIFORMES Family: Skuas, Gulls, Terns, Skimmers (Laridae)

Codes: Common Name: GBTE Scientific Name: GELNIL ITIS Taxonomic No.: 176882

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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.

Gull-billed Tern

Gull-billed Tern: Lightest North American tern. Black cap that extends below eyes, down nape; pale gray upperparts that are darker at the wingtips; short, stout black bill and black legs, feet; long wings with very long outer primaries. Direct flight with graceful, shallow wing beats.

● Song: "kay-WEK", "ge-rek", "kay-tih-DID", "aach"

● Foraging & 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.

● Breeding & 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.

● 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.

Flight Pattern

Direct flight with easy, graceful, shallow wingbeats.

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

^BreedingMonogamous, Colonial or solitary nester

^PopulationFairly common in range

^MigrationMigratory

^Weight8.2 Ounces

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

Gull-billed Tern

Gull-billed Tern

Flight Pattern