Sandwich Tern
The Sandwich Tern is a medium-large tern, gull-like in appearance but usually with a more delicate, lighter build and shorter, weaker legs. It is very closely related to the Lesser Crested Tern, Chinese Crested Tern, Cabot's Tern and Elegant Tern and it has been known to inter-breed with the Lesser Crested Tern. It is 15 to 17 inches in length with a 33 to 38 inches wingspan. It has long, pointed wings, which gives it a fast buoyant flight, and a deeply forked tail. The upperwings are pale grey and the underparts are white. It has a shaggy black crest. The thin sharp bill is black with a yellow tip and the short legs are black. It looks very pale in flight although the primary flight feathers darken during the summer. In winter, the adult's forehead becomes white. Juveniles have dark tips to their tails and a scaly appearance on their back and wings.
The Sandwich Tern has an extensive global range and, whilst population trends have not been quantified, it is not believed to approach the thresholds for the population decline criterion of the IUCN Red List. For these reasons, it is evaluated as “least concern”.
The Sandwich Tern breeds in very dense colonies on coasts and islands and exceptionally inland on suitable large freshwater lakes close to the coast. It nests in a ground scrape and lays 1 to 3 eggs. Unlike some of the smaller white terns, it is not very aggressive toward potential predators, relying on the sheer density of the nests and nesting close to other more aggressive species such as the Arctic Tern and the Black-headed Gull.
In the UK, the Sandwich Tern can be seen from late March to September and there are breeding colonies scattered around the UK coasts including the north Norfolk coast and at Minsmere in Suffolk and Dungeness in Kent.
The Sandwich tern feeds by plunge-diving for fish, almost invariably from the sea. It usually dives directly and not from a hover favoured by other terns. The offering of fish by the male to the female is part of the courtship display.
Date: 12th June 2014
Location: Inner Farne, Farne Islands, Northumberland
The Sandwich Tern has an extensive global range and, whilst population trends have not been quantified, it is not believed to approach the thresholds for the population decline criterion of the IUCN Red List. For these reasons, it is evaluated as “least concern”.
The Sandwich Tern breeds in very dense colonies on coasts and islands and exceptionally inland on suitable large freshwater lakes close to the coast. It nests in a ground scrape and lays 1 to 3 eggs. Unlike some of the smaller white terns, it is not very aggressive toward potential predators, relying on the sheer density of the nests and nesting close to other more aggressive species such as the Arctic Tern and the Black-headed Gull.
In the UK, the Sandwich Tern can be seen from late March to September and there are breeding colonies scattered around the UK coasts including the north Norfolk coast and at Minsmere in Suffolk and Dungeness in Kent.
The Sandwich tern feeds by plunge-diving for fish, almost invariably from the sea. It usually dives directly and not from a hover favoured by other terns. The offering of fish by the male to the female is part of the courtship display.
Date: 12th June 2014
Location: Inner Farne, Farne Islands, Northumberland
|
Also in: Terns
 |  |  |  |  |
 |  |  |  |  |
 |  |  |  |  |