Bridled Tern (Sterna anaethetus)

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A Field Guide to Eastern Birds. by Roger Tory Peterson.

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Adult

Immature

Bridled Tern (Sterna anaethetus)

Identification: Length from tip of bill to tip of tail 14 to 15 inches.

Adult: Head white with a black crown and a black line extending from the back of the crown to the base of the bill. Bill black. Back and wings gray-brown. Leading basal edge of wing contrasting white. Apex of wing darker gray-brown than the triangular region near the wrist. Tail forked with the outer margins white, contrasting with the gray-brown of the rest of the wing.

Immature: Head all white without a black crown or eye line. Wings slightly brown, back and base of the wing strongly mottled.

Similar Species:  The Bridled Tern is most likely to be confused with another pelagic tern, the Sooty Tern. The Sooty Tern, however, is a much darker bird (blackish-brown) and is slightly larger.

Breeding Range (see map below): The Bridled Tern breeds on islands and coastlines of the South Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans.

Overwintering Range:  This species sometimes occurs off the coastlines of the southeastern United States.

Habitat: The Bridled Tern is a pelagic bird spending most its life over the open ocean. This species breeds on rocky and sandy islands.

Food: Small fish and marine invertebrates.

Behavior: The Bridled Tern is pelagic found soaring over the open ocean searching for small fish and marine invertebrates. The species is silent most of the time, but has a high barking sound on its breeding grounds.

Reproduction:  The clutch consists of a single brown-spotted white eggs. The egg is laid in a depression among rocks. The species nests in colonies.