Species: Hydroprogne caspia
Encyclopedia of Puget Sound
A large stocky tern with a stout orange to coral red bill, grayish flight feathers, white underparts, and a moderately forked tail; adult has black cap in breeding season; immature and adults in basic plumage have a dusky or streaked crown; average length 53 cm, wingspan 127 cm (NGS 1983).
Articles:
A new strain of avian flu has been sweeping the globe since 2020, leaving thousands of dead seabirds in its wake. This past summer, it arrived at a colony of Caspian terns at Rat Island in the Salish Sea, with catastrophic results.

New, smaller acoustic tags will allow scientists to track steelhead migrations in Puget Sound in ways that were once impossible. Will they provide answers to the mysterious decline of these now-threatened fish?

Classification
Aves
Charadriiformes
Laridae
Hydroprogne
NatureServe
Classification
Ecology and Life History
A large stocky tern with a stout orange to coral red bill, grayish flight feathers, white underparts, and a moderately forked tail; adult has black cap in breeding season; immature and adults in basic plumage have a dusky or streaked crown; average length 53 cm, wingspan 127 cm (NGS 1983).