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MarineCavity nestMedium · 219 g
ID tip
The Inca tern is roughly 39 to 42 cm (15 to 17 in) long and weighs between 180 to 210 g (6.3 to 7.4 oz). Its plumage is uniquely colored among terns; adults have a mostly dark, slate-gray body, with paler underwing coverts, and a slightly paler throat. A white stripe extends back from the base of the bill and fans out like a Salvador Dalíesque mustache as long, satiny feathers along the side of the neck. The trailing edge of the wing (the tips of the secondaries and the three inner primaries) are white. The tail is black, and moderately forked. Voice: The Inca tern is most vocal at its nesting colonies. Its calls include "raucous cackling notes" and "mewing"; the latter call has been likened to that of a kitten.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
When to see the Inca Tern
One bar for each month, and every month is filled: this bird is recorded here in all twelve. The wide bar is November, the month with the most records.
Where to see the Inca Tern
The map shades 5 countries with regular records, and 4 more in a lighter tone where the bird turns up only as a stray. Everything unshaded has no records. Countries are listed below the map.
Recorded as a rare visitor in United States, Germany, Costa Rica, France.
About the Inca Tern
The Inca tern is a near-threatened species of tern in the subfamily Sterninae of the family Laridae. It is found along the Pacific coasts of Chile, Ecuador and Perú, and has appeared as a vagrant in Central America and Hawaii.
Text adapted from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Easily confused with
Slaty-backed GullLarus schistisagusIt is tied with the yellow-footed gull for fourth-largest gull species, measuring 55–68.5 cm (21.7–27.0 in) in length, 132–160 cm (52–63 in) in wingspan, and 1.05–1.7 kg (2.3–3.7 lb) in weight.
Belcher's GullLarus belcheriBelcher's gull is 48–54 centimetres (19–21 in), with a wingspan of about 120 cm (47 in).
Snowy-crowned TernSterna trudeauiThe snowy-crowned tern is 28 to 35 cm (11 to 14 in) long with a wingspan of 76 to 78 cm (30 to 31 in) and weighs 146 to 160 g (5.1 to 5.6 oz).
Side by side: Belcher's Gull vs Inca Tern · Inca Tern vs Snowy-crowned Tern · Inca Tern vs Slaty-backed Gull
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