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Alternative name: Angel Tern, Fairy Tern, Little Fairy-tern

Photo by JWN Andrewes
Isle de Cocos, Rodrigues, May 2002

Gygis alba

Includes: Little White Tern

[edit] Identification

10-12", w 28"

• Snowy white with dark eye
• Black bill with blue base
• Light grey feet (microrhyncha with black feet)

[edit] Distribution

Seychelles. Polynesia, Micronesia, Fiji, Marquesas

[edit] Taxonomy

[edit] Subspecies^[1]

• G. a. alba:

• Fernando de Noronha, Trinidade, Martin Vas Rocks, Ascension Island and St. Helena island

• G. a. candida:

• Seychelles and Mascarene islands and south Pacific to Hawaii, Clipperton and Cocos islands

• G. a. leucopes:

• Henderson Island and Pitcairn Island

• G. a. microrhyncha:

• Marquesas, Phoenix and Line islands - sometimes regarded as full species, Little White Tern

Photo by axel1950
Bird Island, Seychelles, February 2006

[edit] Habitat

Coasts, coral islets.

[edit] Behaviour

This is a seabird which breeds on small islands. The egg is laid directly on a branch without any nest.

[edit] References

1. Clements, JF. 2009. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to December 2009. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019.

• List of references

[edit] External Links