tern

a kind of bird – sea bird – related to the gulls – small to medium-sized with white or grey body and black markings on the head, (some species with brown and white feather colours) thick, long, straight, red beak, light, streamlined body, with long, narrow wings with black tip feathers, usually short and black or red legs with webbed feet (= thin layer of skin joining the toes), long, wedge- (forked) shaped tail; size: the smallest – least tern – 9 inches in length and 42 grams in weight, and the largest – Caspian tern – 1½-2 feet in length and 650 grams in weight; feeds on fish, shellfish and insects on water surface; lives for 25-30 years; about 44 species, found all over the world (seasonally)

Special Features:
The ‘sooty tern’ is the state bird of the union territory of India, Asia.

Terns are migratory birds. They have two summers in a year because when it is winter in the Arctic region, these birds migrate to Antarctica region; and when it is winter there, they fly back to Arctic region.

The Arctic tern is the world’s most travelled bird – from Arctic Circle to Antarctic waters, a round trip of about 35,000 Km (21,750 miles)!

Most of the terns spend most of their time in air over the sea waters, sometimes two years at a stretch, landing only to make nests on the ground during breeding season!!

Though they spend most of their time flying over water and though they have webbed feet, terns do not swim or stay on water very much. They take several straight dives to catch fish and again fly high into air, which some bird-watchers find very, very fascinating!!

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