Antarctic tern

Antarctic tern
File:Sterna vittata - Antarctica I.jpg
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Charadriiformes
Family:	Sternidae
Genus:	Sterna
Species:	S. vittata
Binomial name
Sterna vittata Gmelin, 1789

The Antarctic tern (Sterna vittata) is a typical tern. It ranges throughout the southern oceans. It is very similar in appearance to the closely related Arctic tern, but is stockier, and the wing tips are grey instead of blackish in flight. It is, of course, in breeding plumage in the southern summer, when the Arctic tern has moulted to its non-breeding plumage (though this is not useful for separating it from another species, the South American tern).

Breeding takes place from mid-November to early December. Chicks hatch from December to February. Skuas and jaegers are the primary predators of this bird's eggs and young.

The total global population of this bird is around 140,000 individuals.

Subspecies

There are six listed subspecies of the Antarctic tern.

• S. v. tristanensis (Murphy, 1938) – Tristan da Cunha & Gough Island
• S. v. sanctipauli (Gould, 1865) – St. Paul & Amsterdam Islands.
• S. v. georgiae (Reichenow, 1904) – South Georgia, South Orkney & South Sandwich Islands
• S. v. gaini (Murphy, 1938) – South Shetland Islands, Antarctic Peninsula & nearby islands
• S. v. vittata (Gmelin, 1789) – Prince Edward, Crozet, Kerguelen, Bouvet & Heard Islands
• S. v. bethunei (Buller, 1896) – Stewart, Snares, Auckland, Bounty, Antipodes, Campbell & Macquarie Islands

Description

Flying over St Andrews Bay, South Georgia, British Overseas Territories

The Antarctic tern is a small bird at 31–38 cm (12-15 inches) long. Its bill is usually a dark red or blackish. It is mainly pale grey and white, but has a black cap when breeding. In non-breeding plumage it has a grizzled crown and white forehead. The tips of this tern's wings are greyish black.

The plumage of juveniles is white on the belly, foreneck, forehead, and breast. The back is grey and the bill is black. Immature birds have plumage similar to adult terns.

References

• Ian Sinclair, Phil Hockey and Warwick Tarboton, SASOL Birds of Southern Africa (Struik 2002) ISBN 1-86872-721-1

External links

• Antarctic tern - Species text in The Atlas of Southern African Birds
• The Antarctic tern at Birdlife International accessed August 25, 2006