Elegant tern
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The elegant tern (''Thalasseus elegans'') is a
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 e ...
in the family
Laridae Laridae is a family of seabirds in the order Charadriiformes that includes the gulls, terns, skimmers and kittiwakes. It includes around 100 species arranged into 22 genera. They are an adaptable group of mostly aerial birds found worldwide. ...
. It breeds on the
Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...
coasts of the southern
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
and
Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
and winters south to
Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal , national_motto = "Fi ...
,
Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ''Eku ...
and
Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...
. This species breeds in very dense colonies on coasts and islands, including
Isla Rasa Isla Rasa is an island in the Gulf of California east of the Baja California Peninsula. The island is uninhabited and is part of the Mexicali Municipality. The 0.21 sq./mi island has three small ponds and has small shed located in the center of t ...
and
Montague Island (Mexico) Montague Island, known in Spanish language, Spanish as Isla Montague, is an island at the mouth of the Colorado River in the municipality of Mexicali, Baja California, Mexico, and is part of the Colorado River Delta and part of a broader region c ...
, 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 gull Heermann's gull (''Larus heermanni'') is a gull resident in the United States, Mexico and extreme southwestern British Columbia, nearly all nesting on Isla Rasa in the Gulf of California. They are usually found near shores or well out to sea, very ...
s, 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 Arctic tern (''Sterna paradisaea'') is a tern in the family Laridae. This bird has a circumpolar breeding distribution covering the Arctic and sub-Arctic regions of Europe (as far south as Brittany), Asia, and North America (as far south a ...
. The offering of fish by the male to the female is part of the courtship display. This Pacific species has wandered to western
Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
as a rare vagrant on a number of occasions, has nested in
Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...
and has interbred with the
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 ...
in France; there is also one record from
Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...
,
South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...
, in January 2006, the first record for Africa. An elegant tern was recorded in the British Isles, in
Pagham Pagham is a coastal village and civil parish in the Arun district of West Sussex, England, with a population of around 6,100. It lies about two miles to the west of Bognor Regis. Governance Pagham is part of the electoral ward called Pagham a ...
, West Sussex, in June 2017. In May 2021, 1500 sand nests with thousands of eggs were abandoned when a drone crashed land near a nesting site in
Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve Bolsa Chica State Ecological Reserve is a natural reserve and public land in Orange County, governed by the state of California, and immediately adjacent to the city of Huntington Beach, California. The reserve is designated by the California ...
, scaring off 2,500 nesting elegant terns and leading to a catastrophic loss.


Etymology

The current genus name is derived from
Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
''Thalassa'', "sea", and ''elegans'' is
Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
for "elegant, fine". The genus was created when a 2005 study implied that the systematics of the terns needed review.


Identification

This is a medium-large tern, with a long, slender orange bill, pale grey upperparts and white underparts. Its legs are black. In winter, the forehead becomes white. Juvenile elegant terns have a scalier pale grey back. The call is a characteristic loud grating noise like a Sandwich tern. This bird could be confused with the
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. ...
or
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 ...
, but the royal tern is larger and thicker-billed and shows more white on the forehead in winter. Out of range, it can also be easily confused with the
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 Ph ...
. See also
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: * Roy ...
, and the external link below. This species is marginally paler above than the
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 Ph ...
with a white (not grey) rump, with a slightly longer, more slender bill with a different curve. The black of the crest that comes down from the crown extends through the eye, creating a small black "smudge" in front of the eye. On
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. ...
s, the black crest stops at the eye, and lesser crested tern has a less shaggy crest Measurements: * Length: 15.3-16.5 in (39-42 cm) * Weight: 6.7-11.5 oz (190-325 g) * Wingspan: 76-81 cm


References


External links


Flickr search for elegant tern
{{Use dmy dates, date=March 2017
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 coa ...
Native birds of the West Coast of the United States Birds of Mexico
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 coa ...
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 coa ...