Least Tern Images

Least Tern Images, Facts and Information:

Sternula antillarum

• Least Terns are the smallest North American terns. Adults have a sleek white body, pale gray back and wings, a black cap and nape, a white forehead, and a black eye stripe. Their bill is yellow with a black tip in the breeding season, and their legs are yellow to orange. Males and females look alike.
• Least Terns are migratory, breeding along the coasts and major river systems of North America. They nest on open, sandy beaches, mudflats, sandbars, and gravelly or shell-covered patches near shallow water, lagoons, estuaries, and bays. Their wintering grounds extend to Central and South America, and there is no overlap between their breeding and wintering ranges.
• Least Terns thrive in open habitats with sparse vegetation, preferring areas close to shallow waters for feeding. They avoid thick vegetation and narrow beaches.
• Least Terns feed primarily on small fish, but their diet also includes shrimp and other invertebrates.
• Least Terns lay 2 to 3 eggs which hatch in 20 to 22 days. Both parents incubate and tend to the young.
• Least Terns are colony nesters, with nests sometimes as close as 10 feet apart. Their call is described as a high-pitched “kit,” “zeep,” or “zreep.”
• A group of terns can be called a “colony” or “flock” of terns.
• The oldest known Least Tern in the wild was at least 24 years old.

I hope you enjoy viewing my Least Tern photos.