Species: Sterna hirundo

Common Tern

Species

Birds

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Salish Sea-reliant birds

Terrestrial vertebrates: birds

Encyclopedia of Puget Sound

Classification

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Craniata

Class

Aves

Order

Charadriiformes

Family

Laridae

Genus

Sterna

NatureServe

Source:
ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.101840

Classification

Other Global Common Names

Charrán Común, Gaviotín Golondrina - Trinta-Réis-Boreal - sterne pierregarin

Informal Taxonomy

Animals, Vertebrates - Birds - Other Birds

Formal Taxonomy

Animalia - Craniata - Aves - Charadriiformes - Laridae - Sterna - Zink et al. (1995) found that populations on Asian and North American sides of Beringia exhibited a level of mtDNA differentiation intermediate between populations and species; however, sample sizes were small and no formal taxonomic change was recommended. Regional breeding populations in western Great Lakes area are not differentiated genetically into subpopulations (A90BUR01NA). Very rarely hybridizes with roseate tern (e.g., see Zingo et al., 1994, Connecticut Warbler 14(2):50-55).

Ecology and Life History

Short General Description

A small sea bird (tern).

Migration

false - false - true - Arrives in breeding areas April-May (Bent 1921). Migration in Costa Rica occurs late September to mid-November and April-May (Stiles and Skutch 1989).

Non-migrant

false

Locally Migrant

false

Food Comments

Eats mainly small fishes (sometimes also crustaceans and insects) obtained at surface of water by diving from air. Susceptible (especially females just prior to laying) to poisoning from dinoflagellate toxin accumulated in fishes (Nisbet 1983). Pair may defend feeding territory away from nest, especially prior to incubation (Ehrlich et al. 1992).

Reproduction Comments

Eggs are laid mostly May-July. Clutch size is 2-3. Incubation lasts 21-27 days, mainly by female. Both sexes tend young, which may leave nest after 3 days (return for brooding) and first fly at about 4 weeks. May lay 2 clutches/year, but second brood rarely fledges. In New York, breeding season was timed to overlap with seasonal increase in food abundance, but food availability began to decline before period of peak demand for food by chicks (Safina and Burger 1988); in a two-year study, fish abundance affected reproductive performance (Safina et al. 1988).

Ecology Comments

In Massachusetts, loss of eggs and chicks was attributed to nocturnal desertion of nests by adults in response to predation by great horned owl (Nisbet and Welton 1984). Presence of mink can reduce reproductive success (Condor 95:708-711). Nonbreeding: singly or in small loose groups, sometimes in large flocks in migration (Stiles and Skutch 1989).

Length

Weight

120

Conservation Status

NatureServe Global Status Rank

Global Status Last Reviewed

1996-11-27

Global Status Last Changed

1996-11-27

Distribution

Conservation Status Map

Global Range

H - >2,500,000 square km (greater than 1,000,000 square miles) - H - BREEDING: northern Alberta across central Ontario and southern Quebec to southern Labrador, south to eastern Washington, southeastern Alberta, northeastern Montana, North Dakota, northeastern South Dakota, central Minnesota, northeastern Illinois, northwestern Indiana, southern Michigan, northern Ohio, northwestern Pennsylvania, central and northern New York, and northwestern Vermont, locally along coast to North Carolina, and locally on Gulf Coast and Bermuda, Greater Antilles, and Netherlands Antilles (AOU 1983, van Halewyn and Norton 1984). In Old World. Nonbreeders occur in summer at James Bay, throughout Great Lakes region, along Atlantic-Gulf coast, south in Middle America to Costa Rica, and throughout West Indies. NON-BREEDING: Baja California and South Carolina to Peru and northern Argentina (AOU 1983); rare in Hawaii. In Old World.

Global Range Code

Global Range Description

>2,500,000 square km (greater than 1,000,000 square miles)

ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.101840