Sterna dougallii
The Roseate Tern, *Sterna dougallii*, is a delicate and sleek seabird renowned for its elegant flight and distinctive appearance. Averaging 33-40 cm in length with a wingspan of 70-80 cm and weighing 100-140 grams, it exhibits a graceful, slender profile. Breeding plumage features a black cap, pristine white underparts with a diagnostic pale pink wash on the breast and belly (hence 'roseate'), and a long, deeply forked tail with extended streamers. Its bill is black with a variable red base, ...
Coastal environments, primarily barrier islands, sandy beaches, rocky islets, and estuaries. Found at low elevations, typically at or near sea level.
Primarily small marine fish, such as sand eels, silversides, and hake, occasionally supplemented with marine invertebrates. Forages almost exclusively by plunge-diving from the air.
Roseate Terns are diurnal and highly colonial, roosting communally on sheltered beaches or sandbars when not foraging. Their primary foraging strategy involves spectacular plunge-diving, hovering briefly before plummeting headfirst into the water to catch small fish. They are fiercely territorial...
The Roseate Tern exhibits a highly disjunct global breeding distribution, spanning temperate and tropical coastal regions across multiple continents. In North America, breeding occurs along the Atlantic coast from Nova Scotia south to New York, and extensively across Caribbean islands. European b...
Least Concern
- The 'roseate' in their name refers to the delicate pale pink flush visible on their breast and belly during the breeding season. - They are one of the most pelagic of the 'white' terns during their non-breeding wintering periods, spending much time over open ocean. - Roseate Terns possess excep...