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MarineScrapeMedium · 186 g
ID tip
It is a medium-large tern, similar in size to the Sandwich tern (Thalasseus sandvicensis) at 36–45 cm (14–17.5 in) long with an 82–94 cm (32.5–37 in) wingspan. The wings and tail are long, and it has black to dark blackish-brown upperparts and white underparts, and a white forehead. The tail is moderately deeply forked (more deeply forked than in Thalasseus terns, but less deeply than most Sterna terns), black, with white outer edges. It has black legs and bill. The average life span is 32 years.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
When to see the Sooty 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 Sooty Tern
The map shades 85 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 United Kingdom, France, Canada, Guatemala, Sweden, Barbados, Honduras, St. Martin, Djibouti, Spain, Guam, Wallis & Futuna.
About the Sooty Tern
The sooty tern is a tern in the family Laridae. It is a seabird of the tropical oceans and can fly for years at a time, skimming the sea surface for food, and returning to land only to breed, on islands throughout the equatorial zone.
Text adapted from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Easily confused with
Bridled TernOnychoprion anaethetusThis is a medium-sized tern, at 30–32 cm in length and with a 77–81 cm wingspan similar to the common tern in size, but more heavily built.
Aleutian TernOnychoprion aleuticusThe Aleutian tern is medium-sized tern (32–39 cm (13–15 in) long), with a 75–80 cm (30–31 in) wingspan, a short pointed bill and a long, deeply forked tail.
Spectacled TernOnychoprion lunatusA close relative of the bridled and sooty terns (with which it is sometimes confused), the spectacled tern is less common than the other members of its genus and it has been studied less.
Side by side: Bridled Tern vs Sooty Tern · Aleutian Tern vs Sooty Tern
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