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Most terns hunt fish by diving, often hovering first, and the particular approach technique used can help to distinguish similar species at a distance. [55] Sea terns often hunt in association with porpoises or predatory fish, such as bluefish, tuna or bonitos, since these large marine animals drive the prey to the surface. Sooty terns feed at ...
Common tern Conservation status Least Concern (IUCN 3.1) Scientific classification Domain: Eukaryota Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Aves Order: Charadriiformes Family: Laridae Genus: Sterna Species: S. hirundo Binomial name Sterna hirundo Linnaeus, 1758 Breeding Resident Non-breeding Passage Vagrant (seasonality uncertain) Synonyms Sterna fluviatilis (Naumann, 1839) Twisted head The ...
The avifauna of Indonesia include a total of 1809 species, of which 786 are endemic, and 3 have been introduced by humans. 150 species are globally threatened. This list's taxonomic treatment (designation and sequence of orders, families and species) and nomenclature (common and scientific names) follow the conventions of The Clements Checklist ...
Juvenile lesser crested terns resemble same-age Sandwich terns, but with a yellow-orange bill, and paler overall, with only faint dark crescents on the mantle feathers. There are two other orange-billed terns within the range of this species, royal tern and Greater crested tern. Both are much larger and stouter-billed; royal also has a white ...
The white tern or common white tern (Gygis alba) is a small seabird found across the tropical oceans of the world. [2] It is sometimes known as the fairy tern, although this name is potentially confusing as it is also the common name of Sternula nereis.
Terns have red oil droplets in the cone cells of the retinas of their eyes. This improves contrast and sharpens distance vision, especially in hazy conditions. [36] Birds that have to see through an air/water interface, such as terns and gulls, have more strongly coloured carotenoid pigments in the cone oil drops than other avian species. [37]
Juvenile gull-billed terns have a fainter mask, but otherwise look much like winter adults. Juvenile Sandwich terns have a short bill, and are frequently mistaken for gull-billed tern where the latter species is uncommon, such as North Sea coasts.
There exists no single definition of which groups, families and species are seabirds, and most definitions are in some way arbitrary. Elizabeth Shreiber and Joanna Burger, two seabird scientists, said, "The one common characteristic that all seabirds share is that they feed in saltwater; but, as seems to be true with any statement in biology, some do not."