Royal Tern - BirdForum Opus

Sterna maxima

Photo by richard bledsoe
Near La Jolla, California

Thalasseus maximus

Identification

46-53cm. It has a long yellow bill, pale grey upperparts and white underparts. Its legs are black. In winter, the black cap becomes patchy.

Distribution

North America, Central America, South America, western Europe and Africa.

Taxonomy

Some authorities place the Royal Tern in the genus Thalasseus.

Subspecies^[1]

• T. m. albididorsalis:

• Coastal Mauritania to Guinea; winters to Namibia

• T. m. maximus:

• Coastal US to West Indies, Guianas, Brazil; winters to Argentina

Photo by Robert L Jarvis
The Gambia, January 2007

Habitat

Coasts and islands.

Behaviour

It nests in a ground scrape and lays 1-2 eggs.

It feeds by plunge-diving for fish.

Reference

1. Clements, JF. 2008. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to December 2008. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019.

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Royal Tern. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 7 May 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Royal_Tern

External Links

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