| Bridled tern | |
|---|---|
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| Adult onLady Elliot Island, Australia | |
Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Charadriiformes |
| Family: | Laridae |
| Genus: | Onychoprion |
| Species: | O. anaethetus |
| Binomial name | |
| Onychoprion anaethetus (Scopoli, 1786) | |
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| Synonyms | |
Sterna anaethetaScopoli, 1786Sterna anaethetusScopoli, 1786 | |
Thebridled tern (Onychoprion anaethetus)[2][3][4] is aseabird of the familyLaridae. It is a bird of the tropical oceans. The scientific name is fromAncient Greek. The genus comes fromonux meaning "claw" or "nail", andprion, meaning "saw". The specificanaethetus means "senseless, stupid".[5]
This is a medium-sized tern, at 30–32 cm in length and with a 77–81 cm wingspan similar to thecommon tern in size, but more heavily built. The wings and deeply forked tail are long, and it has dark grey upperparts and white underparts. The forehead and eyebrows are white, as is a striking collar on the hindneck. It has black legs and bill. Juvenile bridled terns are scaly grey above and pale below.
This species is unlikely to be confused with any tern apart from the similarly dark-backedsooty tern and thespectacled tern from the Tropical Pacific. It is paler-backed than that sooty, (but not as pale as the grey-backed) and has a narrower white forehead and a pale neck collar.
This bird ismigratory and dispersive, wintering more widely through the tropical oceans. It has markedly marine habits compared to most terns. The Atlanticsubspeciesmelanopterus breeds inMexico, theCaribbean and westAfrica; other races occur around theArabian Peninsula and inSoutheast Asia andAustralasia, but the exact number of valid subspecies is disputed. It is a rare vagrant to westernEurope.These are the four subspecies listed by theIOC:
This species breeds in colonies on rocky islands. It nests in a ground scrape or hole and lays one egg. It feeds by plunge-diving for fish in marine environments, but will also pick from the surface like theblack tern and thegull-billed tern. It usually dives directly, and not from the "stepped-hover" favoured by theArctic tern. The offering of fish by the male to the female is part of the courtship display.
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| National | |
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| Other | |
