Bird Guide: Water Birds, Game Birds, and Birds of Prey East of the Rockies

by Chester A. Reed

COMMON TERN

70. Sterna hirundo. 15 in.

Mantle darker than that of any of the similar terns; washed with grayish below; bill and feet bright red, the former shading to black on the tip; tail less deeply forked (3.1 in.); edge of outer primaries and outer tail feathers, blackish. Changes in winter correspond to those of the last. Young birds have the feathers on the back margined with brownish.

Note.—An energetic “tee-arr, tee-arr.”

Nest.—The three eggs are laid in a slight hollow on the sandy beach.

Range.—Breeds locally from the Gulf States to Greenland and Hudson Bay; winters south of the U. S.