White Tern

The White Tern is an almost impossibly delicate-looking seabird, appearing as a pure white silhouette against tropical skies. Its snow-white plumage and buoyant, hovering flight give it an almost fairy-like quality, and it is sometimes called the Fairy Tern in parts of its range.

Appearance

Adults are entirely white with a black ring around large, dark eyes and a black bill with a blue-grey base. The plumage has a translucent, almost pearly quality in strong light, and the bird's buoyant, hovering flight adds to its otherworldly appearance.

Key field marks

• Entirely white plumage with no dark markings on the body
• Large black eye-ring standing out against the white face
• Black bill with a pale blue-grey base
• Hovering, buoyant flight, often near cliffs or trees

Similar species

The White Tern is essentially unmistakable within its range; no other common tern is entirely white-bodied with this striking dark eye-ring. Fairy terns and white noddies in some regions may cause brief confusion, but the combination of all-white plumage and prominent eye-ring is diagnostic.

Habitat and range

White Terns are found across tropical oceans worldwide, breeding on remote islands and atolls in the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian Oceans. Outside the breeding season they range widely over open water, often far from land.

Colonies frequently occur on islands with trees, since the species is unusual among terns in nesting above ground rather than on bare earth.

Behavior

White Terns forage by hovering low over the ocean surface and dipping down to catch small fish and squid, sometimes carrying several fish crosswise in the bill back to the nest site at once.

Voice

Calls include a harsh, grating "gek-gek" or clicking notes, given both in flight and near nest sites.

Nesting and breeding

Uniquely among terns, the White Tern builds no nest at all, instead balancing its single egg directly on a bare, often precarious tree branch, rock ledge, or building. The chick hatches with strong feet adapted for clinging to its perch and remains balanced there until fledging, a striking adaptation to avoid nest predation.