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White-winged Tern
Chlidonias leucopterus
Identify the White-winged Tern by sound or photo and log your sightings with Birdpass.
The White-winged Tern is a small marsh tern. In breeding plumage it is striking, with black head and body contrasting with gleaming white wings, rump and tail; in winter it is pale grey and white. It breeds in freshwater marshes from south-eastern Europe to the Russian Far East, often nesting on floating vegetation, and winters in Africa, southern Asia and Australia.
Did you know?
- It does not plunge-dive for fish but picks food from the surface and hawks insects.
- It sometimes hybridises with the closely related Black Tern.
About the species
Identification
A small tern. In breeding plumage the head, neck and body are black and the wings strikingly white on the forewing, with a white tail; this dark–light contrast is its most eye-catching feature. In winter plumage it is much paler, with a pale rump contrasting with the grey back.
Family
Sternidae
Size
Medium (thrush)
Colours
black, white, grey, red
About the habitat
Freshwater marshes, flooded meadows and the vegetated edges of lakes and ponds.
Diet
Mainly insects, such as dragonflies and beetles, and small fish, picked from the water surface or caught in the air.
Behaviour
A buoyant flier that forages slowly over marshes, dipping to the surface and hawking insects rather than plunge-diving. It breeds in loose colonies in wetland vegetation and migrates in flocks. It sometimes hybridises with the Black Tern.
Sources
Photo: Nrg800, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chlidonias leucopterus 2023-04-08.jpg
Text: Wikipedia (English), CC BY-SA 4.0 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White-winged_tern
