White-winged Tern

Chlidonias leucopterusOrder: CHARADRIIFORMESFamily: Skuas, Gulls, Terns, Skimmers (Laridae)

Related Birds

Black Tern
Common Tern
Aleutian Tern
Bridled Tern

General

White-winged Tern: Small tern with black head, body, and underwing coverts and white rump, vent, upperwing coverts, and tail; flight feathers are pale gray. Bill is dark red to black; legs and feet are red. Sexes are similar. Winter adult has pale gray upperparts, white head with dark-streaked hind crown, gray upperwings, white and gray underwings, white underparts, dark bill, and red legs. Juvenile resembles winter adult but has distinct brown and gray barred back.

Range and Habitat

White-winged Tern: Eurasian species; casual vagrant on the U.S. east coast, accidental inland, in Texas, and on the western Aleutian Islands. Spends winters in Africa. Preferred habitats include inland wetlands, coastal wetlands, and estuaries.

Listen to Call

Voice Text

"kersch", "kreek"

Interesting Facts

The White-winged Tern was first described in 1815 by Coenraad Jacob Temminck, a Dutch aristocrat and zoologist.

In Britain the older name 'White-winged Black Tern' is still frequently used.

This Eurasian vagrant attracts numerous birders whenever it appears, usually during fall migration.

A group of terns are collectively known as a "ternery" or a "U" of terns.

Author

Gary Owen Dick

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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.

White-winged Tern

White-winged Tern: Small tern, black head, body, and underwing coverts; white rump, vent, upperwing coverts, and tail; flight feathers are pale gray. Bill is dark red to black; Red legs and feet. Fluttering, uneven flight with slow, shallow wing beats. Hovers before dipping for prey.

● Song: "kersch", "kreek"

● Foraging & Feeding: White-winged Tern: Feeds on insects, small fish, invertebrates, crabs, and shrimp. Often forages while flying into the wind, then drifts downwind to repeat the maneuver; also plunge dives, surface snatches, and skims.

● Breeding & nesting: White-winged Tern: Three brown to dark brown eggs with black brown blotches are laid on a mat of floating marsh vegetation or dead grass. Incubation ranges from 17 to 22 days and is carried out by both parents.

● Similar species: White-winged Tern: Other short-tailed terns lack black bodies and white wings.

Flight Pattern

Direct flight with rapid wing beats.

White-winged Tern Breeding Adult Body Illustration

● Range & Habitat: White-winged Tern: Eurasian species; casual vagrant on the U.S. east coast, accidental inland, in Texas, and on the western Aleutian Islands. Spends winters in Africa. Preferred habitats include inland wetlands, coastal wetlands, and estuaries.

^BreedingMonogamous

^PopulationAccidental in North America

^MigrationMigratory

^Weight1.9 Ounces

Field Guide to Birds of North America