Gull-billed Tern

Sterna nilotica

Order CHARADRIIFORMES - Family LARIDAE - Subfamily Sterninae

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1. Cool Facts
2. Description
3. Similar Species
4. Sound
5. Range
6. Habitat
7. Food
8. Behavior
9. Reproduction
10. Conservation Status
11. Other Names

A medium-sized tern with broader wings and a thicker bill than most other terns, the Gull-billed Tern is found along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the United States and very southern California.

Cool Facts

• Unlike most terns, the Gull-billed Tern has a broad diet and does not depend on fish. Instead it commonly feeds on insects, small crabs, and other prey snatched from the ground, air, or even bushes. It is also known to eat small chicks of other tern species.

• Although mostly restricted to salt water habitats in North America, the Gull-billed Tern is found in a variety of fresh water habitats across Eurasia.

Description

• Size: 33-38 cm (13-15 in)
• Wingspan: 91 cm (36 in)
• Weight: 150-205 g (5.3-7.24 ounces)

Medium-sized tern. Stocky, with wide wings. Stout black bill. Tail short and notched. Black cap when breeding. Head nearly white during winter, with dark smudge behind eyes. Wings very pale gray with little black in tips. Body white. Legs black.

Sex Differences

Sexes look alike.

Immature

Immature resembles winter adult.

Similar Species

• Sandwich Tern has thinner black bill with pale tip and thinner wings.

Sound

Call a slightly upslurred "kay-wek."

»listen to songs of this species

Range

Summer Range

Breeds along Atlantic Coast from New Jersey to Florida, and along Gulf Coast from Florida to Mexico. Breeds locally in southern California in the Salton Sea. Also breeds across Eurasia, northwestern Africa, and Australia.

Winter Range

Winters from Gulf Coast southward to South America. Also in southern Eurasia, Africa, Philippines, and Australia.

Habitat

Breeds on gravelly or sandy beaches. Winters in salt marshes, estuaries, lagoons and plowed fields, less frequently along rivers, around lakes and in fresh-water marshes.

Food

Fish, insects, lizards, aquatic animals, occasionally chicks of other birds.

Behavior

Foraging

Plucks prey from ground while in flight, catches flying insects. Does not generally plunge-dive for fish.

Reproduction

Clutch Size

Range: 1-7.

Condition at Hatching

Downy, eyes open, able to walk but stays in nest.

Conservation Status

Populations appear erratic, but mostly stable. Listed as "species of special concern" in California.

Other Names

Sterne hansel (French)
Pico de gaviota, Golondrina playera (Spanish)

Sources used to construct this page:

Parnell, J. F., R. M. Erwin, and K. C. Molina. 1995. Gull-billed Tern (Sterna nilotica). In The Birds of North America, No. 140 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia and The American Ornithologists? Union, Washington, D.C.