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MarineScrapeMedium · 112 g
What the Roseate Tern sounds like
ID tip
This is a small-medium tern, 33–36 cm (13–14 in) long with a 67–76 cm (26–30 in) wingspan, which can be confused with the common tern, Arctic tern, and the larger, but similarly plumaged, Sandwich tern. The thin sharp bill is black, with a red base which develops through the breeding season, and is more extensive (to fully red) in the tropical and southern hemisphere subspecies. It is shorter-winged and has faster wing beats than common or Arctic tern. Voice: The call of the roseate tern is a very characteristic chuwit, similar to that of the spotted redshank, quite distinct from other terns.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
When to see the Roseate Tern
One bar for each month. Filled bars are the 5 months with records; pale bars are months with none. The wide bar is July, the month with the most records.
Where to see the Roseate Tern
The map shades 73 countries with regular records, and 12 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 Belgium, Netherlands, Sweden, Iceland, Colombia, Morocco, Réunion, Cape Verde, Mayotte, Somalia, St. Pierre & Miquelon, Macao SAR China.
About the Roseate Tern
The roseate tern is a species of tern in the family Laridae. The genus name Sterna is derived from Old English "stearn", "tern", and the specific dougallii refers to Scottish physician and collector Dr Peter McDougall (1777–1814). "Roseate" refers to the bird's pink breast in breeding plumage.
Text adapted from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Easily confused with
White-fronted TernSterna striataThe white-fronted tern is an average-sized tern; its dimensions are 35–43 cm (14–17 in) in length, with a wingspan between 79 and 82 cm (31 and 32 in); the male weighs on average 130 g (4.6 oz).
South American TernSterna hirundinaceaWith adult South American terns reaching a length of 40 to 44 centimetres (16 to 17 in), they are larger than either common terns (Sterna hirundo) or Arctic terns (Sterna paradisaea).
River TernSterna aurantiaIt is a medium-large tern, 38–46 cm long with an 80–85 cm wingspan, distinctly larger than any other species in Sterna and more comparable in size to a Sandwich tern (Thalasseus sandvicensis) or a lesser crested tern (T. bengalensis).
Side by side: River Tern vs Roseate Tern · Large-billed Tern vs Roseate Tern · Roseate Tern vs White-fronted Tern · Roseate Tern vs South American Tern
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