Roseate tern
ExploreSterna dougallii
Type: bird
Status:
Species Guide
Roseate tern
Sterna dougallii
Species Type: bird
Conservation Status:
Identification
The roseate tern is a medium-sized, light colored tern with a dark cap and long tail. In breeding plumage, the adult has a black cap and nape. They have a pale gray back and underwing feathers. Its belly and rump feathers are white. Black tips on the outer primaries (flight feathers) contrast with the pale upperwing feathers. The tail is white and deeply forked with long streamers. The bill is black with a dark red base. The legs and feet are dark red. The iris is brownish-black color. Sexes are alike in plumage. The non-breeding adult has brown legs, a black bill, and a white forehead with a black mask extending from the eye to the nape.
The juvenile roseate tern has a dark brown cap, a black bill, and black legs. The back is brown and barred and appears scaly. On juveniles, there is a white trailing edge on the wing and a dark carpal (wrist) bar on the upperwing. The tail lacks the long streamers present in adults.
The flight of the roseate tern is light and graceful with rapid wingbeats. The call is a soft chew-ick and the alarm call is a harsh krack that resembles the sound of ripping fabric.
The roseate tern can be confused with the similar-appearing common tern (Sterna
hirundo) and Forster’s tern (S. forsteri). Both are fairly common in New Jersey.
The roseate tern has paler upperparts and a longer tail than the common tern. The call of the common tern is a harsh, protracted and descending kee-earrr. Unlike the roseate tern, the Forster’s tern has a gray tail and silvery gray outer primaries. The call of the Forster’s tern is a harsh, abrupt kyarr.
Distribution & Habitat
Distribution and Habitat
The roseate tern occurs along coastal areas in both temperate and tropical areas throughout the world. The North Atlantic breeding population is located in the northeastern United States and southern Canada, from Nova Scotia to Long Island, New York. Historic nesting records range south to Virginia.
The roseate tern is a coastal species that nests on barrier islands and salt marshes. They forage over shallow coastal waters, inlets, and offshore seas. Nesting colonies are located above the high-tide line, often within vegetated dunes. Roseate terns nest at sites with more vegetative cover than other terns found in New Jersey.
Diet
Diet
Roseate terns mainly eat small fish. They hunt by hovering over water before diving head first to catch prey. They often forage over shallow waters and concentrate on large schools of baitfish that are schooled up from larger fish like bluefish.
Life Cycle
Life Cycle
In New Jersey, roseate terns return to their nesting areas in late April and early May. Where heavy predation pressure is absent, roseate terns exhibit a strong fidelity to their nest sites. This means that they return to the same nest sites year after year. Courting terns perform aerials displays and feed their mates to help establish pair bonds.
Roseate terns nest in colonies that often occur with other terns. Unlike some other terns, roseates prefer to nest within areas of dense vegetation, like sand dunes. They make a scrape in the sand where the female lays a clutch of one to two buff colored eggs. They have heavy brown streaking to help camouflage the eggs from being predated. The male and female incubate the eggs for 21 to 26 days. When a predator enters the breeding colony all of the terns take flight and bombard the intruder by dive bombing it and defecating on it. After the eggs hatch, both adults care for and feed the young. The young fledge when they are 22 to 33 days old. The adults continue to feed the young until they migrate south for the winter.
Roseate terns do not breed until they are three to four years old.
Scientific Classification
- Kingdom: Animalia
- Phylum: Chordata
- Class: Aves
- Order: Charadriiformes
- Family: Laridae
- Genus: Sterna
- Species: S. dougallii