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Little Tern

Little Tern

Sternula albifrons

Identify the Little Tern by sound or photo and log your sightings with Birdpass.

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The Little Tern is the smallest tern, a tiny, agile fisher of shallow coasts and rivers breeding across Europe, Asia, Africa and Australasia. In breeding plumage it has a black cap with a white forehead and a black-tipped yellow bill. It winters on subtropical and tropical coasts. Many inland river populations have declined because of river regulation and disturbance.

Did you know?

  • Males court females by presenting small fish.
  • It is the smallest tern species.

Voice

Flight call

About the species

Identification

The Little Tern is the smallest tern. The back and wings are pale grey and the underparts white; it has a black cap with a clear white forehead patch, a yellow bill with a black tip and orange legs. Its small size, yellow bill and white forehead separate it from other terns. Its flight is fast and fluttering.

Family

Sternidae

Size

Medium (thrush)

Colours

white, grey, black, yellow, orange

About the habitat

Open, almost bare shores – sandy beaches, shingle and gravel bars, coastal lagoons and river mouths; in winter tropical seas.

Diet

Mainly small fish, as well as shrimps and insects, caught by hovering low and making quick, shallow plunge-dives.

Behaviour

Hovers on rapidly beating wings before plunging close to shore. It nests in loose colonies on bare sand or shingle, laying 2–3 eggs in a scrape. Males court females with fish. It gives a rasping, chattering call and vigorously mobs intruders near the colony.

Sources

Photo: PetroKaterynych, CC BY 4.0 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Крячок малий.jpg

Sound: Jochem verweij, XC902155, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://xeno-canto.org/902155

Text: Wikipedia (English) + FinBIF species descriptions + Wikipedia (Finnish), CC BY-SA 4.0; FinBIF: CC BY 4.0; Wikipedia: CC BY-SA 4.0 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_tern

See also