Breeding adult © Prashant Tewari Macaulay Library ML 135689921
Breeding adult © Anonymous
Nonbreeding adult © Dhrubojyoti Sen
Juvenile © Raja Simma Pandiyan
Breeding adult © Manoj Bind
+ 3
Nonbreeding adult © Robert Tizard
Breeding adult © Rajesh Radhakrishnan

Black-bellied Tern Sterna acuticauda

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Identification

POWERED BY MERLIN

Elegant tern with a long tail and a slender orange bill. Breeding adult has a full black cap and dark belly. Non-breeding adult is paler-bellied and has only a solid black nape patch, with the black of the crown reduced to mottling. Larger, bulkier River Tern can be similar, but averages shorter- and thicker-billed, lacks black belly in breeding plumage, and has patchier black on the head in non-breeding plumage. Black-bellied breeds on sandy or gravel islands in rivers and lakes, but forages over a wider range of wetland habitats. Gives squeaky “wee’tew!” notes. Uncommon and declining.

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