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Whiskered Tern

 
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The Whiskered Tern (Chlidonias hybridus) is a seabird
Seabird

Seabirds are birds that have adaptation to life within the marine environment. While seabirds vary greatly in lifestyle, behavior and physiology, they often exhibit striking convergent evolution, as the same environmental problems and feeding ecological niche have resulted in similar adaptations....
 of the tern
Tern

Terns are seabirds in the family Sternidae, previously considered a subfamily of the gull family Laridae . They form a lineage with the gulls and skimmers which in turn is related to skuas and auks....
 family Sternidae. This bird
Bird

Birds are wing, Bipedalismal, endothermic , vertebrate animals that lay egg . There are around 10,000 living species, making them the most numerous tetrapod vertebrates....
 has a number of geographical races, differing mainly in size and minor plumage details.

C. h. hybridus breeds in warmer parts of Europe
Europe

Europe is, conventionally, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural , the Caspian Sea, and by the Caucasus Mountains to the southeast....
 and Asia
Asia

Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent. It covers 8.6% of the Earth's total surface area and, with over 4 billion people, it contains more than 60% of the world's current human population....
. The smaller-billed and darker C. h. delalandii is found in east and south Africa
Africa

Africa is the world's second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km? including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area....
, and the paler C. h. javanicus from Java to Australia
Australia

Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the southern hemisphere comprising the Australia of the world's smallest continent, the major island of Tasmania, and numerous list of islands of Australia in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Oceans....
.

The tropical forms are resident, but European and Asian birds winter
Bird migration

Bird migration refers to the regular seasonal journeys undertaken by many species of birds. Bird movements include those made in response to changes in food availability, habitat or weather....
 south to Africa and southern Asia.

This species breeds in colonies on inland marshes, sometimes amongst Black-headed Gull
Black-headed Gull

The Black-headed Gull is a small gull which breeds in much of Europe and Asia, and also in coastal eastern Canada. Most of the population is bird migration, wintering further south, but some birds in the milder westernmost areas of Europe are resident....
s, which provide some protection.






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Encyclopedia


The Whiskered Tern (Chlidonias hybridus) is a seabird
Seabird

Seabirds are birds that have adaptation to life within the marine environment. While seabirds vary greatly in lifestyle, behavior and physiology, they often exhibit striking convergent evolution, as the same environmental problems and feeding ecological niche have resulted in similar adaptations....
 of the tern
Tern

Terns are seabirds in the family Sternidae, previously considered a subfamily of the gull family Laridae . They form a lineage with the gulls and skimmers which in turn is related to skuas and auks....
 family Sternidae. This bird
Bird

Birds are wing, Bipedalismal, endothermic , vertebrate animals that lay egg . There are around 10,000 living species, making them the most numerous tetrapod vertebrates....
 has a number of geographical races, differing mainly in size and minor plumage details.

C. h. hybridus breeds in warmer parts of Europe
Europe

Europe is, conventionally, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural , the Caspian Sea, and by the Caucasus Mountains to the southeast....
 and Asia
Asia

Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent. It covers 8.6% of the Earth's total surface area and, with over 4 billion people, it contains more than 60% of the world's current human population....
. The smaller-billed and darker C. h. delalandii is found in east and south Africa
Africa

Africa is the world's second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km? including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area....
, and the paler C. h. javanicus from Java to Australia
Australia

Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the southern hemisphere comprising the Australia of the world's smallest continent, the major island of Tasmania, and numerous list of islands of Australia in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Oceans....
.

The tropical forms are resident, but European and Asian birds winter
Bird migration

Bird migration refers to the regular seasonal journeys undertaken by many species of birds. Bird movements include those made in response to changes in food availability, habitat or weather....
 south to Africa and southern Asia.

This species breeds in colonies on inland marshes, sometimes amongst Black-headed Gull
Black-headed Gull

The Black-headed Gull is a small gull which breeds in much of Europe and Asia, and also in coastal eastern Canada. Most of the population is bird migration, wintering further south, but some birds in the milder westernmost areas of Europe are resident....
s, which provide some protection. The scientific name arises from the fact that this, the largest marsh tern
Marsh tern

The name marsh tern refers to terns of the genus Chlidonias, which are typically found in freshwater marshes, rather than coastal locations....
, show similarities in appearance to both the white Sterna terns and to Black Tern.

Description


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
Common Tern

The Common Tern is a seabird of the tern family Sternidae. This bird has a circumpolar distribution breeding in temperate and sub-Arctic regions of Europe, Asia and east and central North America....
 or Arctic Tern
Arctic Tern

The Arctic Tern is a seabird of the tern family Sternidae. This bird has a :wiktionary:circumpolar distribution, breeding colonially in Arctic and sub-Arctic regions of Europe, Asia, and North America ....
, 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 (279 mm) 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.

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.



Various views and plumages