Very pale typical tern with very long tail streamers. Males and females are similar in appearance; during the breeding season they have a black forehead, crown and napeand pale plumage with a rosy tinge to the breast,which gives the species its common name The grey tail is deeply forked with white long outer feathers called 'streamers' (In winter the forehead becomes white. A particularly vocal species on the breeding grounds, Changes in bill colour chages geographicly. Calls of the roseate tern include a 'chew-ik' and a 'kraak' when alarmed.
Not Threatened.
Very pale typical tern with very long tail streamers. Males and females are similar in appearance; during the breeding season they have a black forehead, crown and napeand pale plumage with a rosy tinge to the breast,which gives the species its common name The grey tail is deeply forked with white long outer feathers called 'streamers' (In winter the forehead becomes white. A particularly vocal species on the breeding grounds, Changes in bill colour chages geographicly. Calls of the roseate tern include a 'chew-ik' and a 'kraak' when alarmed.
33-43 cm, 90-125 g, wingspan 72-80 cm
Taxonomy:
- Sterna Dougallii Montagu, 1813, Firth of Clyde, Scotland. In some respects intermediate between Sterna and Thalasseus. Internal taxonomy in need of revision, as subspecific boundaries confused: racial allocation of birds breeding on islets off E Africa requires study, perhaps closer to bangsi than to dougallii, although included in latter; arideensis may not be distinct from bangsi; variation of nominate dougallii encompasses almost entire range of variation of species. Five subspecies currently recognized. (source: Handbook of the Birds of World)
Subspecies and Distribution:
- * dougallii Montagu, 1813 - Nova Scotia to New York and Florida, S through Gulf of Honduras and West Indies to islands off N Venezuela, and also Azores, NW Europe, and E & S Africa from S Somalia to Tanzania and in S Cape Province; American populations may winter mainly in mid-Atlantic, E Atlantic birds winter on coasts of tropical W Africa. * arideensis Mathews, 1912 - Seychelles S to Madagascar and E to Rodrigues I. * korustes (Hume, 1874) - Sri Lanka, Andaman Is and Mergui Archipelago (SW Myanmar). * bangsi Mathews, 1912 - Arabian Sea, Ryukyu Is, coastal China and Taiwan S to Greater Sundas and E to S New Guinea, Solomons, New Caledonia and possibly Fiji; presumably this race on Cocos (Keeling) Is. * gracilis Gould, 1845 - Moluccas and Australia.
Forms colonies with common and Arctic terns, usually on offshore islands. Nest sites are sheltered by overhanging rock or vegetation. Feeds along tide-rips, in estuaries and several kilomtres offshore.
In Britain and Ireland, the diet consists mainly of small fish (almost exclusivelly), especially sand eels, which are caught by plunge-divingor are stolen from other tern species.