Orange-billed Tern
   HOME
*





Orange-billed Tern
{{Short description, Group of birds Orange-billed tern is a name applied to a group of three large terns in the genus ''Thalasseus'' with orange bills, which are quite similar in appearance and often considered difficult to identify, namely: * Royal tern, ''Thalasseus maximus'' * Lesser crested tern, ''Thalasseus bengalensis'' * Elegant tern, ''Thalasseus elegans'' The greater crested tern (''Thalasseus bergii'') and the Cayenne tern (''Thalasseus sandvicensis eurygnatha''), which have yellow rather than orange bills, are sometimes also considered part of this group. Identification Identification of orange-billed terns within their range is straightforward. Crested and Cayenne terns (which do not overlap in range) can be identified by their bill colour. Of the truly orange-billed species, the only geographical overlaps are between royal and lesser crested, and between royal and elegant Terns, and in both cases the larger size and strong bill of royal tern should prevent misidentif ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Tern
Terns are seabirds in the family Laridae that have a worldwide distribution and are normally found near the sea, rivers, or wetlands. Terns are treated as a subgroup of the family Laridae which includes gulls and skimmers and consists of eleven genera. They are slender, lightly built birds with long, forked tails, narrow wings, long bills, and relatively short legs. Most species are pale grey above and white below, with a contrasting black cap to the head, but the marsh terns, the Inca tern, and some noddies have dark plumage for at least part of the year. The sexes are identical in appearance, but young birds are readily distinguishable from adults. Terns have a non-breeding plumage, which usually involves a white forehead and much-reduced black cap. Terns are long-lived birds and are relatively free from natural predators and parasites; most species are declining in numbers due directly or indirectly to human activities, including habitat loss, pollution, disturbance, an ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Thalasseus
''Thalasseus'', the crested terns, is a genus of eight species of terns in the family Laridae. It has a worldwide distribution, and many of its species are abundant and well-known birds in their ranges. This genus had originally been created by Friedrich Boie in 1822, but had been abandoned until a 2005 study confirmed the need for a separate genus for the crested terns. These large terns breed in very dense colonies on coasts and islands, and exceptionally inland on suitable large freshwater lakes close to the coast. They nest in a ground scrape. ''Thalasseus'' terns feed by plunge-diving for fish, almost invariably from the sea. They usually dive directly, and not from the "stepped-hover" favoured by, for example, the Arctic tern. The offering of fish by the male to the female is part of the courtship display. These species have long thin sharp bills, usually a shade of yellow or orange except in the Sandwich tern and Cabot's tern where the bills are black with yellow ti ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Royal Tern
The royal tern (''Thalasseus maximus'') is a tern in the family Laridae. The species is endemic to the Americas, though strays have been identified in Europe.Buckley, P. A. and F. G. Buckley (2020). Royal Tern (Thalasseus maximus), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (S. M. Billerman, Editor). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.royter1.01 Retrieved April 17, 2021 Taxonomy The royal tern was described by the French polymath Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon in 1781 in his ''Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux'' from a specimen collected in Cayenne, French Guiana. The bird was also illustrated in a hand-coloured plate engraved by François-Nicolas Martinet in the ''Planches Enluminées D'Histoire Naturelle'' which was produced under the supervision of Edme-Louis Daubenton to accompany Buffon's text. Neither the plate caption nor Buffon's description included a scientific name but in 1783 the Dutch naturalist Pieter Boddaert coined the binomial ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Lesser Crested Tern
The lesser crested tern (''Thalasseus bengalensis'')Bridge, E. S.; Jones, A. W. & Baker, A. J. (2005)A phylogenetic framework for the terns (Sternini) inferred from mtDNA sequences: implications for taxonomy and plumage evolution. ''Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution'' 35: 459–469. is a tern in the family Laridae. Etymology The genus name is from Ancient Greek ''Thalasseus'', "fisherman" from ''thalassa'', "sea". The specific ''bengalensis'' means "of Bengal", the type locality, historically referring to much of northern India and Bangladesh. Distribution It breeds in subtropical coastal parts of the world mainly from the Red Sea across the Indian Ocean to the western Pacific, and Australia, with a significant population on the southern coast of the Mediterranean on two islands off the Libyan coast. Accidental breeding has also been reported in Italy and France. The Australian birds are probably sedentary, but other populations are migratory, wintering south to South Afr ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Elegant Tern
The elegant tern (''Thalasseus elegans'') is a tern in the family Laridae. It breeds on the Pacific coasts of the southern United States and Mexico and winters south to Peru, Ecuador and Chile. This species breeds in very dense colonies on coasts and islands, including Isla Rasa and Montague Island (Mexico), and exceptionally inland on suitable large freshwater lakes close to the coast. It nests in a ground scrape and lays one or two eggs. Unlike some of the smaller white terns, it is not very aggressive toward potential predators, relying on the sheer density of the nests (often only 20–30 cm apart) and nesting close to other more aggressive species, such as Heermann's gulls, to avoid predation. The elegant tern feeds by plunge-diving for fish, almost invariably from the sea, like most ''Thalasseus'' terns. It usually dives directly, and not from the "stepped-hover" favoured by the Arctic tern. The offering of fish by the male to the female is part of the courtship dis ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Greater Crested Tern
The greater crested tern Retrieved 28 February 2012 (''Thalasseus bergii''), also called crested tern or swift tern, is a tern in the family Laridae that nests in dense colonies on coastlines and islands in the tropical and subtropical Old World. Its five subspecies breed in the area from South Africa around the Indian Ocean to the central Pacific and Australia, all populations dispersing widely from the breeding range after nesting. This large tern is closely related to the royal and lesser crested terns, but can be distinguished by its size and bill colour. The greater crested tern has grey upperparts, white underparts, a yellow bill, and a shaggy black crest that recedes in winter. Its young have a distinctive appearance, with strongly patterned grey, brown and white plumage, and rely on their parents for food for several months after they have fledged. Like all members of the genus ''Thalasseus'', the greater crested tern feeds by plunge diving for fish, usually in marine en ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Sandwich Tern
The Sandwich tern (''Thalasseus sandvicensis'') is a tern in the family Laridae. It is very closely related to the lesser crested tern (''T. bengalensis''), Chinese crested tern (''T. bernsteini''), Cabot's tern (''T. acuflavidus''), and elegant tern (''T. elegans'') and has been known to interbreed with the lesser crested. It breeds in the Palearctic from Europe to the Caspian Sea wintering to South Africa, India and Sri Lanka. The Sandwich tern is a medium-large tern with grey upperparts, white underparts, a yellow-tipped black bill and a shaggy black crest which becomes less extensive in winter with a white crown. Young birds bear grey and brown scalloped plumage on their backs and wings. It is a vocal bird. It nests in a ground scrape and lays one to three eggs. Like all ''Thalasseus'' terns, the Sandwich tern feeds by plunge diving for fish, usually in marine environments, and the offering of fish by the male to the female is part of the courtship display. Taxonomy The t ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Richard Millington
Richard Millington is a British birder and bird artist. He lives in Cley-next-the-Sea, Norfolk. He does not appear to be with his wife Hazel. He is assistant editor of ''Birding World'' magazine. His contributions to that journal include many articles on bird identification. He also runs Birdline, a telephone information service containing news of rare birds. Richard Millington is also a twitcher. He is one of a small number of birders who have seen over 500 species in Britain Britain most often refers to: * The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands * Great Britain, the largest island in the United King .... He also found the UK's first Rock Sparrow at Cley on 14 June 1981, still the only record in the UK. In 1980 he undertook a yearlist, at a time when this form of twitching was still in its infancy, seeing 300 species of bird in the wild in Britain throug ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Steve Gantlett
Stephen J. M. Gantlett is a British birder. He lives with his wife Sue in Cley-next-the-Sea, Norfolk. A qualified optician, SJMG retired from this profession in 1982 to become a full-time ornithologist. He was the editor of Birding World magazine until it ceased production in January 2014. He also co-runs Birdline, a telephone information service containing news of rare birds, with Richard Millington. Steve Gantlett is a twitcher. He is one of a small number of birders who have seen over 500 species in Britain. He is a former member of the British Birds Rarities Committee. Gantlett's specialism as an ornithologist is the advancement of bird identification. Among the areas of knowledge in which Gantlett has played a key role are the identification of orange-billed terns. He also found the UK's first Rock Sparrow at Cley on 14 June 1981 (with Richard Millington), still the only record in the UK. He has published papers on this subject in Birding World ''Birding World'' was a ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  




Birding World
''Birding World'' was a monthly birding magazine published in the United Kingdom. It was the magazine of the Bird Information Service, based at Cley next the Sea, Norfolk. With the publication of issue No. 26/12 in January 2014, ''Birding World'' magazine ceased publication. History and profile Originally published in 1987 as ''Twitching'' volume 1, the magazine underwent a name-change to this name, in 1988 (also resetting its volume count back to 1). The editor was Steve Gantlett, and the assistant editor Richard Millington. It was aimed at birders with an interest in the occurrence and identification of rare birds in the United Kingdom and the Western Palearctic. It also covered birding-related material from around the globe. The range of material published included: * papers on bird identification, often including proposed new identification characters for difficult groups of taxa * news articles on rare birds in Britain and elsewhere in the Western Palearctic Significant a ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Norfolk
Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea, with The Wash to the north-west. The county town is the city of Norwich. With an area of and a population of 859,400, Norfolk is a largely rural county with a population density of 401 per square mile (155 per km2). Of the county's population, 40% live in four major built up areas: Norwich (213,000), Great Yarmouth (63,000), King's Lynn (46,000) and Thetford (25,000). The Broads is a network of rivers and lakes in the east of the county, extending south into Suffolk. The area is protected by the Broads Authority and has similar status to a national park. History The area that was to become Norfolk was settled in pre-Roman times, (there were Palaeolithic settlers as early as 950,000 years ago) with camps along the highe ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe by the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south. The country covers five-eighths of the island of Great Britain, which lies in the North Atlantic, and includes over 100 smaller islands, such as the Isles of Scilly and the Isle of Wight. The area now called England was first inhabited by modern humans during the Upper Paleolithic period, but takes its name from the Angles, a Germanic tribe deriving its name from the Anglia peninsula, who settled during the 5th and 6th centuries. England became a unified state in the 10th century and has had a significant cultural and legal impact on the wider world since the Age of Discovery, which began during the 15th century. The English language, the Anglican Church, and Engli ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]