General
Sooty Tern: Medium-sized tern with long wings and deeply forked tail, black crown, nape and upperparts, and a broad triangular white forehead patch. Underparts are white; upper tail is black with white outer edges. Sexes are similar. Winter adult has paler crown and nape; variable white feather fringes above. Juveniles are blackish-brown above, finely covered with irregular lines; spotted with white and gray-brown below, becoming paler from the lower belly downwards; underwing coverts are white.
Range and Habitat
Sooty Tern: Largely pelagic, coming ashore only to breed. Has an established breeding colony on Dry Tortugas, Florida. Florida population spends most of its nonbreeding time off the west African coast. Also nests on islets off Louisiana and Texas. Regular (nonbreeding) in summer north to North Carolina.
Breeding and Nesting
Sooty Tern: Simple scrape nest on ground, built by both sexes, lined with leaves; single white to buff egg with brown, lavender, or black markings. Incubation ranges from 27 to 30 days and is carried out by both sexes; Chick fed by both parents, fledges at 56 to 63 days.
Foraging and Feeding
Sooty Tern: Their diet includes small pelagic fish and squid. These terns skim water and take fish and small aquatic animals on the wing. They feed offshore with predatory fish that drive bait fish to the surface. They feed extensively at night. They are pelagic foragers, generally feeding far out at sea in tropical and subtropical oceanic waters.
Vocalization
Sooty Tern: Emits a high, nasal bark or laughing "ka-wake", "ke weh-de-wek", or "wacky-wack."
Similar Species
Sooty Tern: Bridled Tern is smaller, has narrower wings, longer tail, white collar and white forehead patch extends behind the eye.