Arctic Terns spend much of their life in the air above the water's surface hunting for food. While searching for their next meal catching fish, they will float in the air until they spot a fish and then dive, capturing their meal. Also the Arctic Tern will eat some marine living things like lobsters, crab and barnacles. As the tern flies gracefully through the air they catch insects. Also they will eat grasshoppers. As shown on Icelandic Stamps they even feed their young while hovering above the water's surface.
As the days get shorter in the late summer, the Arctic Terns begin their journey south. They leave their mating areas about three months from the time they migrated north to the Arctic Regions. After that, they've got a long journey ahead of them. Arctic Terns migrate over the sea and are rarely seen from land except during breeding season. This little bird wonder can lay claim for the longest migration distance, traveling from the far northern polar regions down to Antarctica, a distance of about 22,000 miles each year. Because of their migration time table, Arctic Terns are thought to be in daylight longer than other birds.
From North America the Arctic Tern will fly across the Atlantic Ocean to southern Europe, then down the coast of Africa to the Antarctic. Sometimes they will travel from Africa to South America and then south down to the Antarctic regions where it is summer and food is plentiful.
The Arctic Tern is similar to the Common, Forster's, and Roseate Terns.
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