Little Tern

This bird breeds on the coasts and inland waterways of temperate and tropical Europe and Asia. It is strongly migratory, wintering in the subtropical and tropical oceans as far south as South Africa and Australia.

Picture of the Little Tern has been licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike.
Original source: Own work
Author: JJ Harrison (http://www.noodlesnacks.com/)Camera location

The Little Tern is classified as Least Concern. Does not qualify for a more at risk category. Widespread and abundant taxa are included in this category.

* First two days in the life of a Little Tern chick The nest of a pair of Little Tern (Sterna... * Black-naped Tern feeding chick In May 2008 Willis documented the difficulties Black-naped Terns (Sterna... * Yellow-vented Bulbul’s reaction to chick’s death A pair of Yellow-vented Bulbul (Pycnonotus goiavier) nested in my... * Common Flameback’s strange death KC Tsang was walking along his favourite forest patch... More

* Little Tern taking a bath Dr Johathan Cheah Weng Kwong was tern-watching in August... * What species of fish does the Little Tern take? Birdwatchers are happy to just report that such and such... * Common Kingfisher diving for fish We associate kingfishers with fish, although these birds feed on... More

Occasionally pairs of Little Terns can still be seen diving for fish in Sydney Harbour, where their high pitched calls attract attention. Flocks of as many as 1000 or more birds have been seen on the estuary of the Hunter River and other places on the coast. More

The Little Tern (Sternula albifrons) is a seabird of the tern family Sternidae. It was formerly placed into the genus Sterna, which now is restricted to the large white terns (Bridge et al., 2005). The former North American (S. a. antillarum) and Red Sea S. a. saundersi subspecies are now considered to be separate species, the Least Tern (Sternula antillarum) and Saunders's Tern (Sternula saundersi). This bird breeds on the coasts and inland waterways of temperate and tropical Europe and Asia. More

* Managing the Little Tern Conservation Project at Baltray * Acquiring/managing sites of conservation interest * Promoting conservation * Protecting Louth's environment Below is the winning poster in our Little Tern Arts Competition by Suzanne Evers from Cartown National School. More

Detail: Keywords:Aves, Little, Little Tern, Masters of Flight, Tern, animals, belly, bill, bipedal, birds, breast, breeding, class, crown, eggs, endothermic, feathers, flight, flock, habitat, incubated, incubation, lay, mandible, master, migration, nape, nest, tail, tarsus, throat, vertebrate, warm-blooded, winged, wings - Copyright © Into-the-Light with Rumplestiltskin - Select: All | None - - Guestbook for Little Tern Public entry - visible to everyone Public entries More

The Little Tern is the smallest of the resident terns in the Chambal - tiny compared to the much larger skimmers and river terns. Instead of a neat full black cap, they have a white forehead, and a streak of black serving as eye-patches. Their legs are also much less colourful compared to their fellow terns and skimmers. In this entry, I describe the nesting behaviour of this species of terns. More

The Little Tern is a small, slender, migratory or partly migratory seabird. At less than 25 cm long it is two- thirds to half the size of any other south-eastern tern. Pale grey upperparts contrast with the white chest, underbelly and the moderately long, deeply forked tail (80 - 110 mm). The Little Tern has a black cap and black outer wing-edges. More

The Little Tern: A Story of Insight Share your own customer images Search inside this book Tell the Publisher! I’d like to read this book on Kindle Don’t have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App. More

The Little Tern breeds in colonies on gravel or shingle coasts and islands. It lays two to four eggs on the ground. Like all white terns, it is defensive of its nest and young and will attack intruders. Like most other white terns, the Little Tern feeds by plunge-diving for fish, usually from saline environments. The offering of fish by the male to the female is part of the courtship display. This is a small tern, 21-25 cm long with a 41-47 cm wingspan. More

the Little tern on the quiet beaches of our coastline such as Bournda National Park. The Little Tern is to be most likely to be found nesting through August to January. The nest is a fairly simple hollow sometimes lined with dry seaweed. The eggs are mostly found in twos and are lightly stone coloured with small spots of black, purple and brown. They incubate the eggs for about 18 days. More

The Little Tern can be identified by its small size, ridiculously short tail and almost frantic, jerky wing action. The neat white forehead and black-tipped yellow bill are diagnostic. The outer couple of primaries are conspicuously blacker than in other terns. Habitat Breeds on sandy or shingle beaches. Behaviour Feeds by hovering frantically then diving head first into the water for fish. More

A detailed history of the fortunes of the little tern in south-east Norfolk appears in 'Birds of Great Yarmouth', published 1991. Perhaps surprisingly none is known to have nested on the shore at Yarmouth until during the second world war. Following a return to peace-time conditions the mines and coils of rusting barbed wire were rapidly removed. The bulk of the little terns sought sanctuary on exposed Scroby Sands. At that time the sandbank was extensive, almost three miles. More

The Little Tern (Sternula albifrons) is considered as a one of the smallest terns of the world. Taxonomy - The Little Tern (Sternula albifrons) belongs to family Sternidae. It was formerly placed into the genus Sterna, which now is restricted to the large white terns. The former North American (S. a. antillarum) and Red Sea S. a. More

The little tern is the smallest European tern. It breeds in colonies on bare beaches or sandbanks, in the vicinity of open water that is rich in fish. It eats primarily small fish such as lesser sandeel and sprat. Around 450 pairs of little terns breed in the Netherlands, most of which are found on Vlieland. More

The Little Tern (western Pacific) is one of three subspecies of Sterna albifrons (Little Tern). Little Tern (western Pacific) breeds in south-eastern and eastern Asia, from India and Japan, through the Phillipines and Indonesia to New Guinea and northern and eastern Australia. Ranges of sedentary and migratory populations within Little Tern (western Pacific) often overlap. The subspecies Sterna albifrons sinensis (Little Tern (western Pacific)) is the only form of the species Sterna albifrons (Little Tern) that occurs in Australia. More

Little Tern Sterna albifrons in flight Photo Inger Vandyke Little Tern Sterna albifrons in flight Little Terns are small migratory shorebirds. They move between Japan and the east coast of Australia, where they breed in coastal areas from Victoria to the Northern Territory. Nests are simple scrapes in the sand just above the high tide mark. More

important colony of Little Terns which annually breeds at Nambucca Heads is in a particularly parlous condition. For these reasons the assistance of local residents and visitors is critical to the colony's recovery and ongoing viability. A group of tiny sea birds flies from Eastern Asia to Nambucca Heads each summer in an exhausting journey of some 6,000 kms. The truly quite delightful Little Terns come to the large sand groin which comprises the southern headland at the entrance to Nambucca River. More

The Little Tern is one of those stories, like the Little Prince or Jonathan Livingston Seagull, that speaks both to children and adults - yet adults will get much more out of the reading. On the surface, this story is about a bird who loses his ability to fly. He then must learn to live without flying and learn to see life from the ground instead of from the sky. More

Little Tern and, not surprisingly, very similar to Little Tern in general appearance and habits. Purpose: Little Terns and Saunders's Terns are almost identical to the observer in the field and small differences help to separate them. This note deals with the identification points that can be useful to separate Little and Saunders's in areas where both species are known to overlap in range – Eastern Africa and Asia. More

In 1989/90 a national survey of little terns was conducted and a conservation statement was prepared by the Royal Australasian Ornithological Union. There is a national management plan being prepared for the little tern at present (which includes Tasmania). It is important that we identify all the nesting sites of the little tern and then try to protect them from such activities as 4 wheel driving. Most nest sites are on unprotected land. More

Motif: Little Tern (Sterna albifrons) The Croatian Post has issued four commemorative postage stamps with the motif of the Little Tern in cooperation with the Worldwide Fund for Nature – WWF, and the sign of the panda - the logotype WWF, is printed on the stamps with the permission of the registered owner of the protected sign. More

The RSPBLittle tern hoveringaerial view of RSPB Hodbarrow reserve Little tern at nest, stretching wings * A * B * C * D * E * F * G * H * I * J * K * L More

The Little Tern (Sterna albifrons) pictured above is an endangered shorebird which migrates to Botany Bay from Japan every year to breed. You can see the sequence of the life of the Little Tern from brand new hatchling (left), through to chick stage (centre) and to adulthood (right). Spit Island (below) is managed by National Parks and Wildlife Service as a Little Tern breeding site and as a site for feeding and roosting for migratory waders and other wetlands birds. More

The Little Tern is a pretty elegant bird, the smallest Tern in Europe. In former times it was a typical breeding bird along natural rivers... •english Mala čigra je elegantna ptica, najmanja čigra u Europi. U prošlosti je bila karakteristična ptica koja gnijezdi na prirodnim rijekama... •hrvatski A kis csér az Európában élő legkisebb csér faj. Korábban számos természetes folyószakasz mentén fészkelt, ma már viszont csak négy folyón fordul elő Európában... More

Click here to see the Little Tern in the making Little Tern The little tern is shown powering out of the water after a dive. It is modelled from Lime Wood with a waxed finish. More

Picture of Sterna albifrons above has been licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike license.
Original source: Valter Jacinto
Author: Valter Jacinto
Permission: Some rights reserved
Order : Charadriiformes
Family : Laridae
Genus : Sterna
Species : albifrons
Authority : Pallas, 1764