Common Tern

Sterna hirundo

Common Tern

“ Birds symbolize a degree of freedom that we would nearby give our souls to have. ”

– Roger Tory Peterson

Scientific Taxonomy & Character Information

Domain: Eukaryota

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Reptilia

Order: Charadriiformes

Family: Laridae

Genus: Sterna

Species: Sterna hirundo

Descendant: Sterna

Named by: Carl Linnaeus

Year Published: 1758

Size: 31–35 cm (12–14 in) long in length, 24 cm tall in height, 77–98 cm (30–39 in) wingspan in length, 110–141 g (3.9–5.0 oz) in weight

Type: 

Title: n/a

Pantheon: Terran/Gaian

Time Period: Holocene

Alignment: Shy

Threat Level: ★

Diet: Carnivorous

Elements: Water, air

Inflicts: n/a

Weaknesses: Electric, nature, ice, sound, earth, stunned

Casualties: n/a

Based On: itself

Conservation Status: Least Concern (LC) - IUCN Red List 

Common Tern (Sterna hirundo) is the common species of tern found elsewhere worldwide, the most common of all terns after Arctic tern. Even though Common Tern and Arctic Tern are closely related, those that differ throughout their beak shape and light gray feather color.

Etymology

Coming The common tern was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his landmark 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae under its current scientific name, Sterna hirundo. "Stearn" was used in Old English, and a similar word was used by the Frisians for the birds. "Stearn" appears in the poem The Seafarer, written around 1000 A.D. Linnaeus adopted this word for the genus name Sterna.


The Latin for swallow is hirundo, and refers here to the tern's superficial likeness to that unrelated bird, which has a similar light build and long forked tail. This resemblance also leads to the informal name "sea swallow", recorded from at least the seventeenth century.

Physical Appearance

Breeding adults have orange-red legs, a narrow pointed bill, light grey upperparts, and white to the very light grey underparts. They also have a black cap. The bill may be entirely black or mostly red depending on the subspecies.

Abilities

For example, the common tern has a distinctive alarm, kee-yah, also used as a warning to intruders, and a shorter kyar, given as an individual takes flight in response to a more serious threat; this quietens the usually noisy colony while its residents assess the danger.

Ecology

The common tern breeds in a wider variety of habitats compared to its relatives, and it easily adapts to artificial substrates like floating rafts. It nests on any flat, sparsely vegetated surface near water. The nest could just be a rough patch of gravel or sand, but it is frequently lined or edged in whatever silt is nearby.


A maximum of 3 eggs may be set, and on an open beach, their muted hues and splotchy patterns serve as camouflage. The eggs are incubated by both sexes and hatch in about 21–22 days, though this time may be extended if a predatory animal disturbs the colony. In 22–28 days, the downy chicks fledge. While mollusks, crustaceans, and other invertebrate prey may make up a sizable portion of their diet in some regions, this species, like most terns, forages by plunging underwater for fish in either saltwater or freshwater.


The species is opportunistic, its diet consisting predominantly of small fish and occasionally planktonic crustaceans and insects. Big birds like gulls, owls, and herons, as well as mammals like rats and American mink, are prone to predating on eggs and young. Although blood parasites seem to be uncommon, mites, parasitic worms, and lice can all infect common terns.

Behavior

Coming soon

Distribution and Habitat

With the exception of the far north, this species has a cold polar distribution and breeds throughout the majority of Europe, Asia, and North America. Further south, where it spends the winter, it can be found along South America's coast and interior, including Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas), across Africa's coast (save for northern Africa), along parts of Arabian Peninsula, along India's coast, and all of south-east Asia and Australasia, save for New Zealand.


The species can be found breeding in a wide range of coastal and inland habitats from sea level to altitudes of more than 4,000 m. It prefers to nest on flat rock surfaces on inshore islands, accessible shingle and sandy beaches, dunes and spits, vegetative cover inter-dune areas, sandy, rocky, shell-strewn, or well-vegetated islands in estuaries, coastal lagoons, saltmarshes, mainland peninsulas, and grassy plateaus atop coastal cliffs along the coast. Similar habitats include shingle banks in rivers, sand or gravel pits, marshes, ponds, grassy areas, and patches of dredged soil. It may also nest on sandy, rocky, shell-strewn, or well-vegetated islands in lakes and rivers.


Tamed

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Lore

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Known Individuals

Gallery

Foreign Languages

Trivia