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Gull-billed Tern

Gelochelidon niloticaOrder: CHARADRIIFORMESFamily: Gulls, Terns, Skimmers (Laridae)

Gull-billed Tern Portrait
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Related Birds

Sandwich Tern

General

Gull-billed Tern: The lightest North American tern. Black cap that extends below the eyes and down the nape, and pale gray upperparts that are darker at the wingtips; short, stout black bill and long black legs; long wings with very long outer primaries.

Range and Habitat

Gull-billed Tern: Fairly common, but local; Salton Sea and San Diego County in California, and along Atlantic Coast.

Listen to Call

Voice Text

"kay-WEK", "ge-rek", "kay-tih-DID", "aach"

Interesting Facts

  • The Gull-billed tern has a number of geographical races, differing mainly in size and minor plumage details.
  • They don't normally plunge dive for fish like the other white terns, but feeds on insects taken in flight, and also often hunt over wet fields, to take frogs and small mammals.
  • They are less numerous today on the Atlantic coast than at their historical levels, prior to the millinery trade in the late 1800s. A group of terns are collectively known as a "ternery" or a "U" of terns.


Author

John Schwarz

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Range Map for Gull-billed Tern
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Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.
Family
Species Gelochelidon nilotica
Length13 - 14 Inches
Wingspan34 Inches

Gull-billed Tern

Gull-billed Tern: Lightest North American tern. Black cap that extends below eyes, down nape; pale gray upperparts that are darker at the wingtips; short, stout black bill and black legs, feet; long wings with very long outer primaries. Direct flight with graceful, shallow wing beats.

● Song: "kay-WEK", "ge-rek", "kay-tih-DID", "aach"

● Foraging & Feeding: Gull-billed Tern: Flies over farm fields or marshes to catch insects, its main diet. Over water, swoops to catch small prey; also eats frogs, crustaceans, and earthworms.

● Breeding & nesting: Gull-billed Tern: Monogamous; colonial or solitary. Often nest at periphery of other tern species' colonies. Nest on open ground, often concealed in debris among shells, built by both sexes; one to four pink buff to yellow eggs lightly spotted with dark brown. Incubation ranges from 22 to 23 days and is carried out by both sexes. Young fledge in 28-35 days. One brood per year.

● Similar species: Gull-billed Tern: Forster's Tern has more slender body, slender, more pointed wings, deeply forked tail, mostly orange bill, and orange legs and feet. Sandwich tern has crest, long slender black bill with yellow tip.

Flight Pattern

Direct flight with easy, graceful, shallow wingbeats.
Gull-billed Tern Body Illustration
● Range & Habitat: Gull-billed Tern: Fairly common, but local; Salton Sea and San Diego County in California, and along Atlantic Coast.
BreedingMonogamous, Colonial or solitary nester
PopulationFairly common in range
MigrationMigratory
Weight8.2 Ounces