Black Tern

Black Tern, adult, breeding plumage

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Black Tern, adult nonbreeding plumage

Black Tern, 1st year plumage

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1. Description
2. Sound
3. Conservation Status
4. Other Names
5. Cool Facts
6. Full detailed species account

A small dark, graceful tern of freshwater marshes, the Black Tern eats insects as well as fish.

Description

• Small, dark tern.
• In breeding plumage dark head and chest and gray wings are distinctive.
• In nonbreeding plumage, head and underside white, wings gray, and dark spot behind eye and dusky crown and nape.

• Size: 23-26 cm (9-10 in)
• Wingspan: 57-60 cm (22-24 in)
• Weight: 50-60 g (1.77-2.12 ounces)

Sex Differences

Sexes similar.

Sound

Call a short "kik."

Conservation Status

Populations declining, especially at southern edge of range.

Other Names

Guifette noire (French)
Gaviotin negro, Charrán negro, Fumarel negro (Spanish)

Cool Facts

• The Black Tern is very social. It breeds in loose colonies and usually forages, roosts,and migrates in flocks of a few to more than 100 birds, occasionally up to tens of thousands.

Sources used to construct this page:

Dunn, E. H., and D. J. Agro. 1995. Black Tern (Chlidonias niger). In The Birds of North America, No. 147 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, and The American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, D.C.