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Common Terns - Western Isles Birds
(Click Image for Larger Pictures) |
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Common Terns - Garry Beach
Ref:TER2000 |
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Common Tern
Ref:TER2005
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Common Terns - Outer Hebrides
Ref:TER2006
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We saw these birds - the common terns at Garry Beach - Isle of Lewis |
These birds fly with to and fro over the water with very full wing-beats, the wings slightly angled back - intermittently |
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Fish are important to the terns life and it is only when these are in short supply that they turn to invertebrates like crustaceans.
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Common Tern
Ref:TER2007
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Common Tern
Ref:TER2008
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Common Tern
Ref:TER2009
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This tern had just swooped to catch this fish and was taking it wherever - taken at Garry Beach - Tolsta - Western Isles. |
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You can see these birds all over the Western isles. The common tern as its name suggests is the most common tern found in Europe .This one - we saw at Tolsta - Western Isles. |
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This tern was really shifting with some speed - I think they appear like "paper rockets" we used to make as kids! |
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Common Terns - Garry Beach
Ref:TER2020
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Common Tern
Ref:TER2010
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Common Tern
Ref:TER2010
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Just standing looking at the sea - these common terns - keeping a watchful eye on all around |
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Ready for take off on the cliff tops at Garry Beach - this tern spread its wings. |
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Spreading its wings the tern at Reef Beach - Western Isles |
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Common Tern
Ref:TER2222
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We watched this common tern fly in with its fish catch and then gobble it down bit by bit |
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| Bird Overview - Common Terns |
Family |
Terns |
Latin name |
Sterna hirundo |
Population |
Common |
Similar Species |
ArcticTern
Roseate Tern |
Description |
The Common Terns - greyish plumage - smart black cap and long dagger shaped red bill with a black tip. It has a long, strongly forked tail and supremely angular wings with the sharp tips that distinguish tem from other gulls. The Common Tern is so similar to the closely related Arctic Tern, that many bird watchers admit defeat and simply call them 'Commic Terns'
The Arctic Tern is a very similar looking bird - however it has longer tail streamers than its wing tip - The Common terns has shorter tail streamers. In non-breeding plumage it has a black bill and blackish legs as well as a white forehead all of which makes it look quite different from its breeding plumage.
When an adult is resting, look for an obvious black tip to a long crimson-red bill and notice too that the black on the crown extends in a black trail down towards the back. Also there is a more obvious white line between the bill and the dark crown. None of these features alone can be 100% reliable but together they give the Common Tern a rather elongated-looking head
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Size |
41cm - 250g in weight
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Habitat |
The common terns like sand or shingle beaches on the sea coast or flat rocky coasts.
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Food |
The Common Terns eat fish, small crustaceans, molluscs and worms.
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Voice |
The call is a clear piping, like that of the Arctic Tern, but lower-pitched and less strident.
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Breeding |
Courtship feeding is a common tern breeding behaviour.The males provide the best supplies of fish during courtship and they rear, on average, larger numbers of young and so the female is apparently testing his potential as a father before agreeing to partner him. |
Misc. Info |
The common tern has been known to reach 23 years. The old Scottish word for the Common Tern is pictar, |
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WESTERN ISLES BIRD SIGHTINGS - BIRDS SEEN IN THE OUTER HEBRIDES |
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