Whiskered Tern

识别特征

The size, black cap, strong bill (29–34 mm in males, 25–27 mm and stubbier in females, with a pronounced gonys) and more positive flight recall common or Arctic tern, but the short, forked-looking tail and dark grey breeding plumage above and below are typically marsh tern characteristics. The summer adult has white cheeks and red legs and bill. The crown is flecked with white in the juvenile, and the hindcrown is more uniformly blackish, though in the winter adult this too is flecked with white. The black ear-coverts are joined to the black of the hindcrown, and the space above is mottled with white, causing the black to appear as a C-shaped band. The sides of the neck are white; this sometimes continues across the nape. The collar is less sharply defined. All through the year the rump is pale grey. In the juvenile, the mantle has a variegated pattern. The feathers of the back and scapulars are dark brown, with prominent broad buff edgings and often subterminal buff bars or centers. There is usually an admixture of new gray feathers, especially on the mantle, quite early in the fall. The mantle is silvery-gray in the adult.The call is a characteristic krekk.<p>In winter, the forehead becomes white and the body plumage a much paler grey. Juvenile whiskered terns have a ginger scaly back, and otherwise look much like winter adults. The first winter plumage is intermediate between juvenile and adult winter, with patchy ginger on the back.<p>The whiskered tern eats small fish, amphibians, insects and crustaceans.

分类信息

学名

Chlidonias hybrida

命名信息

(Pallas, 1811)

目

Charadriiformes

科

Laridae

属

Chlidonias

分布与栖息地

繁殖区

AF, PAL, OR, AU : widespread inland s, c Eurasia, e, s Africa, and Australia

非繁殖区

inland Africa, Asia and Australia

迁徙

Complete migrants

保护状况

种群趋势

stable