White Tern
Gygis alba
One of the most beautiful and interesting of birds, the White Tern is a year round resident and breeder. We saw them every day, everywhere. Typical of tropical birds they breed all year long.
Common White Tern, Common White-Tern, Atlantic White-Tern, Indian Ocean White Tern, Fairy Tern, Common Fairy Tern, White Noddy, Angel Tern
Bird Family :
Sternini - Terns & noddies ...
White Tern, Gygis alba
Little White Tern, Gygis microrhyncha
Noddies are reportedly a dietary staple on the island of Nauru.
References ...
The Forster's Tern is a medium-sized, primarily white tern with a black cap and dark eyes. The back and wings are a pale silvery-gray, contrasting with the white of the neck and belly.
Common white tern (Gygis alba)
Brown noddy (Anous stolidus)
Common myna (Acridotheres tristis)
Cactus coral (Pavona decussata)
Pomarine jaeger (Stercorarius pomarinus)
Larger star coral (Favites chinensis)
Honeycomb coral (Favites abdita) ...
The Sandwich tern is a very white tern, with a black cap on its head, a long black bill with a yellow tip and short black legs. In flight it shows grey wedges on its wings tips and it has a short forked tail.
Description Length: 48-58 cm. Adults in breeding plumage: A large white tern with a stout, red bill tipped with black; the complete black cap is retained for most of the breeding season and the forehead remains dusky in all plumages.
Like many white terns, it is very defensive of its nest and young and will attack humans and other large predators, but unlike the more aggressive Arctic Tern rarely hits the intruder, usually swerving off at the last moment.
Sooty tern
Sterna vittata. Antarctic tern
Sterna nereis. Fairy tern (endemic)
Sterna albifrons. Little tern
Sterna paradisaea. Arctic tern
Procelsterna cerulea. Grey ternlet
Gygis alba. White tern ...
Short-eared owl preys on white terns. 'Elepaio. 41(5): 41. [22377] 43. Sinclair, Jim. 1990. Interactions between short-eared owls and northern harriers in Van Buren County. Iowa Bird Life. 60(3): 60-62. [22259] 44. Smith, Ronald A.
 See also: Arctic Tern, Curlew, Sandwich Tern, Swallow, Sooty tern
|
