Bird name:

Roseate Tern

Sterna Dougallii

Order

CHARADRIIFORMES

Family

Gulls, Terns, Skimmers (Laridae)

Code 4

ROST

Code 6

STEDOU

ITIS

176891

Breeding Location:

Coastal, sea

Breeding Type:

Monogamous, Colonial

Breeding Population:

Uncommon to rare

Egg Color:

White to buff with red brown and gray speckles

Number of Eggs:

1 - 3

Incubation Days:

21 - 26

Egg Incubator:

Both sexes

Nest Material:

Lined with bits of debris, dry grass, seaweed, and rubbish

Migration:

Migratory

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General

Roseate Tern: White below with slight, variable pinkish cast visible in good light; pale gray above with black cap and nape and deeply forked tail that projects well beyond wingtips at rest. Bill mostly black with some red at base; legs and feet are red-orange. Sexes are similar. Winter adult has white forehead, two or three dark primaries, and lacks red at base of bill. Juvenile has a streaked brown cap that extends over the forehead, heavily scaled mantle, black bill, legs and feet and much shorter tail.

Range and Habitat

Roseate Tern: Offshore Florida Keys, and along New England coast from Long Island to Nova Scotia.

Breeding and Nesting

Roseate Tern: Highly marine and coastal; comes ashore only to nest. Nest built by both sexes on ground, under cover, lined with debris, dry grass, and seaweed. Lays one to three white to buff eggs speckled with red brown and gray. Incubation ranges from 21 to 26 days and is carried out by both sexes; first flight at 27 to 30 days, but young may leave nest as early as a few days after hatching. One brood per year.

Foraging and Feeding

Roseate Tern: Eats mainly small fish. Plunge dives for prey, often hovering before making its next catch. Often forms noisy active flocks when predatory fish drive schools of small fish to the surface.

Vocalization

Roseate Tern: Call is soft "chi-weep"; alarm signal is high clear "keer" or drawn-out "zra-ap" (like ripping cloth). Attack is "zhrrraaaaach."

Similar Species

Roseate Tern: Common Tern is slightly smaller with black-tipped red bill, dark wing tips; shorter, less deeply-forked tail with dark outer border; different voice. Arctic Tern is grayer, gray mantle, wings, and underparts; white cheeks, dusky gray wing tips; deeply-forked tail has gray on outer margins; different voice.

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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.

Cap

The area on top of the head of the bird.

Mantle

The upper surface of the back and wings covered with shorter feathers.

Nape

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

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