The Australian tern or Australian gull-billed tern (''Gelochelidon macrotarsa'') is a
tern in the family
Laridae. The genus name is from
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...
''gelao'', "to laugh", and ''khelidon'', "
swallow". It was previously considered conspecific with the
gull-billed tern.
Taxonomy
John Gould described ''Sterna macrotarsa'' from a specimen held at Kings College, London in 1837.
Description
This is a fairly large and powerful tern, similar in size and general appearance to a
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 elegan ...
, but the short thick
gull-like bill
Bill(s) may refer to:
Common meanings
* Banknote, paper cash (especially in the United States)
* Bill (law), a proposed law put before a legislature
* Invoice, commercial document issued by a seller to a buyer
* Bill, a bird or animal's beak
Plac ...
, broad wings, long legs and robust body are distinctive. The summer adult has grey upperparts, white underparts, a black cap, strong black bill and black legs. The call is a characteristic ''ker-wik''. It is in length and in wingspan.
[ Body mass ranges from .][
In winter, the cap is lost, and there is a dark patch through the eye like a ]Forster's tern
Forster's tern (''Sterna forsteri'') is a tern in the family Laridae. The genus name ''Sterna'' is derived from Old English "stearn", "tern", and ''forsteri'' commemorates the naturalist Johann Reinhold Forster.
It breeds inland in North America ...
or a Mediterranean gull
The Mediterranean gull (''Ichthyaetus melanocephalus'') is a small gull. The scientific name is from Ancient Greek. The genus ''Ichthyaetus'' is from ''ikhthus'', "fish", and ''aetos'', "eagle", and the specific ''melanocephalus'' is from ''mel ...
. Juvenile Australian terns have a fainter mask, but otherwise look much like winter adults.
Range
It breeds in Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
and New Guinea
New Guinea (; Hiri Motu
Hiri Motu, also known as Police Motu, Pidgin Motu, or just Hiri, is a language of Papua New Guinea, which is spoken in surrounding areas of Port Moresby (Capital of Papua New Guinea).
It is a simplified version of ...
.
Life history
This species breeds in colonies on lakes, marshes and coasts. It nests in a ground scrape and lays two to five eggs.
This is a somewhat atypical tern, in appearance like a ''Sterna'' tern, but with feeding habits more like the ''Chlidonias'' marsh terns, black tern and white-winged tern.
The Australian gull-billed tern does not normally plunge dive for fish
Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of li ...
like the other white terns, and has a broader diet than most other terns. It largely feeds on insects taken in flight, and also often hunts over wet fields and even in brushy areas, to take amphibians and small mammals.[ It is also an opportunistic feeder, and has been observed to pick up and feed on dead dragonflies from the road.][
]
Gallery
File:Gelochelidon nilotica Karratha Western Australia 1.jpg
File:Gelochelidon nilotica macrotarsa at Fivebough Wetlands.jpg
References
External links
*
*
{{Taxonbar, from=Q55111914
Australian tern
Birds of Australia
Australian tern
Australian tern