White-cheeked Tern
Sterna repressa
Sub-tropical tern; slightly smaller than Common Tern with a lighter and less powerful flight, as well as a longer-billed and shorter-legged profile. In all plumages, note the darker upperparts, including the rump and uppertail. Adults have medium dark gray underparts with a dark underwing trailing edge, similar to the shorter-tailed Whiskered Tern. Note that in different light conditions, Common Tern also shows gray underparts, but Common Tern always has a white tail and rump. Young birds are very similar to Common Tern, but White-cheeked Terns are more strongly marked. Breeds on small islands and coral reefs. Vocalisations similar to Common Tern.
Taxonomy
- Scientific name
- Sterna repressa
- Authority
- Hartert, EJO, 1916
- Order
- Charadriiformes
- Family
- Laridae
- Genus
- Sterna
Range and habitat
The species inhabits tropical coasts and inshore waters, foraging mainly within 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) of land over coral reefs. Its nest is a shallow scrape on rock, sand, gravel or coral islands, bare and exposed sandflats and sparsely vegetated open ground on sand-dunes and above the high-water mark on beaches.
- Migration
- Complete migrants
Behavior
Most of this species is migratory, although those in East Africa may remain there all year. It breeds in colonies of 10–200 pairs. These colonies can consist of a mixture of tern species.
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Blackish-gray Antshrike
Thamnophilus nigrocinereus
A fairly large antshrike of riparian zones with lots of regional variation in plumage. Males are dark gray above, paler below, with white wing bars (not spots); the northwest subspecies is gray with a black cap. Females are rusty with a dark-gray hood. Found in seasonally flooded forests, river island forests, and mangroves. Forages close to the ground and sometimes accompanies mixed-species flocks. The song is an accelerating series of whistled descending notes.
Pallas's Gull
Ichthyaetus ichthyaetus
Large powerful gull of saline, brackish, and fresh water bodies. Breeding adult has a black head with a thin incomplete crescent around the eye and a red-and-black-tipped bill. Nonbreeding adults retain a partial “hood” of patchy black on the back of the head. Young birds also have this dark patch, though it is much smaller in size. The eye crescents and a flashing white rump help to distinguish first-winter birds from Herring-type gulls. Can be readily separated by size in any plumage from the smaller dark-headed gulls.
Chestnut-headed Crake
Anurolimnas castaneiceps
Tall, distinctively-colored crake. Grayish-brown body, with a big orange hood over the head and upper body; bright red eye. Not as closely associated with water as other crakes and rails; usually found in dense secondary growth. Early bamboo growth seems to be its favored habitat in some areas. Its song is often given in duet; a bouncing two-part whistle: “toot, toorrr, toot, toorrr…” that is easily imitated.
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