Common Tern

Author: Fred J. Kane
Published on: Feb 23, 2001

Common Tern Stena hirundo

There are about thirty orders of birds, about 180 families, and about 2,000 genera with 10,000 species. This is only one of the species of birds, The Common Tern.

Other Names- Sea Swallow, Summer Gull, Lake Erie Gull, Bass Gull In the eastern hemisphere the Summer Gull breeds in Europe and Asia and winters in India and Africa

In 1979 the government put the Common Tern on the Endangered List. This species of terns was almost wiped out by the beginning of the 20th century. Since then tern populations have come back with a healthy population. Let's hope this trend continues. In Ontario Province, Canada many of the dangers facing Common Terns disappeared after placing nesting rafts for use by Common Terns. The Common Tern is a regular migrant and unusual resident of the Northeast. There are many nesting colonies sites in the north central part of the United States.

You can tell the difference from a Forester's Tern because the Common Tern has a red beak and legs Also the top and tips of the wings are darker and black outside border on tail feathers. Their feathers are usually pearl gray, white, chestnut or black in color. Many Common Terns have rosy red or yellow feet. Their beaks, wattles, eyes, or mouth linings usually are of a reddish or yellowish color. Their flying is powerful, and some terns migrate farther than any other birds.

Common terns nest on islands or peninsulas near large lakes and rivers that have little fruitful vegetation . Sandy substructures are the particular choice of the terns. Preferred nesting roosts have about thirty per cent vegetative protection.

Their menu consists mainly of small fish like minnows and alewives that they snare by floating in the air a few inches over the water's surface. Then they plunge head first for next meal. Occasionally they will swim a few feet below the water's surface to capture their quarry. It's seldom that you can cross the small bridge without spotting several terns eyeing the water from the from the posts on the bridge. Near my home an old abandoned marina has several pilings still in the water. Every piling has at least on tern perched on it waiting to snatch a meal as the minnow swims by.

The Common Terns generally reaches breeding and nesting capabilities at age three. Like other terns and gull the Common Terns nest in groups. Common Tern breeding groups range from a few pairs at many inland breeding colonies, to thousands of pairs elsewhere.

After mating the female Common Tern lays three greenish white to deep brown colored eggs from late May to early June. The eggs have spots and blotches of brown, black and lavender. Both parents sit on the eggs and in about 25 days the young hatch. About one month later the birds have grown enough feathers to make their first flight.

The nest usually consists of a small hole in the dirt. The future parents pad the nest with grasses, seashells, or bits of seaweed. People observe the Common Terns around the world. Some classes of terns nest in crooks and crannies of the earth or in hovels and some terns nest in trees.

Loss of their breeding environment, lengthy severe climatic condition, animals, snakes and other birds affect whether terns have healthy chicks. Also destroying the nests and the eggs, people trespassing on the nesting site, removal of the young terns by other gulls, and chemical poisons are elements influencing the future of nesting terns.

Wild life managers should prevent people from trespassing, to see or take pictures near the birds while they nest. Managers should mange nesting sites to supply sparse foliage growth sections free of birds and animal predators, like the great horned owls, minks, rats, raccoons, and red foxes.

The Common Tern is just one of five species of tern breeding in Southern Quebec Province, Canada. Common terns may be best spotted from spring time through autumn in most central regions of North America. Most terns migrate south to winter in Florida or south ward.