Birds of Mexico

    CHARADRIIFORMES: Laridae (Gulls, Terns, Skimmers)  
Genus: Sterna (4 species, 13 worldwide)


Roseate Tern
Roseate Tern (Sterna dougallii dougallii)
Parguera, Lajas, Puerto Rico
  Image credit: USFWS/Alcides Morales.
   
Photograph by U.S. Government employee (see below)     Copyright and usage info

A typical tern with a long tail. Overall very white with roseate color on belly virtually impossible to see, or not present at all.

Forster's Tern
Forster's Tern (Sterna forsteri)
Beaumaris Lake, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
  Breeding Forster's Tern resemble breeding Common Terns.
   
Photograph by dfaulder     Copyright and usage info

Forster's Tern
Forster's Tern (Sterna forsteri)
  Non-breeding Forster's Tern's are easy to identify because of the black mask. Photo Credit: Rinus Baak/USFWS.
   
Photograph by U.S. Government employee (see below)     Copyright and usage info


Common Tern
Common Tern (Sterna hirundo)
Delta Dunaja, Vadu, Romania  
   
Photograph by Andrej Chudy     Copyright and usage info

Common Tern
Common Tern (Sterna hirundo hirundo)
Jones Beach SP, Nassau County, New York, United States  
   
Photograph by Graham Montgomery   © All Rights Reserved.

In breeding plumage looks like a Forster's Tern, with black cap and orange and black bill. Look for black in the wings on the Common Tern, seen on some tips here. The Common Tern has a black bill in non-breeding plumage, and unlike other terns is often far out at sea, and not on the beach.

Arctic Tern
Arctic Tern (Sterna paradisaea)
Farne Island, England  
   
Photograph by Francesco Veronesi     Copyright and usage info

Known for having the one of the longest migrations in the animal kingdom, from the northern arctic to Antarctica.


© Tom Friedel - All Rights Reserved, except for images and data otherwise noted.       Colombia       Panama       Ecuador       Costa Rica       Mexico
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