From Opus

Photo by kuwaity. Location: Kubbar island, Kuwait.

Sterna anaethetus

[edit] Identification

30-32cm. Dark grey upperparts, white underparts, forehead, eyebrows and collar on hindneck, black legs and bill, deeply forked tail. Juvenile - scaly grey above and pale below.

[edit] Distribution

Mexico, the Caribbean and west Africa; other races occur around Arabia and in Southeast Asia and Australasia.

[edit] Taxonomy

There are 4 subspecies. Sooty Tern, Bridled Tern, Gray-backed Tern and Aleutian Tern are each others closest relatives and all four are sometimes placed in a separate genus Onychoprion.

[edit] Habitat

Oceans and rocky islands.

[edit] Behaviour

It nests in a ground scrape or hole; 1 egg is laid.

The diet includes fish which is obtained by plunge-diving.

[edit] External Links