Crested Tern
S19, Adult, profile
Crested Tern
S1, In Flight
Animals
Plants
Info
| Crested Tern S19, Adult, profile | | Crested Tern S1, In Flight | | ||
Animals Plants Info |
 | Class: | Animals (Animalia) - Chordates (Chordata) - Birds (Aves) | ||||||||||||||
| Order: | Coastal Birds (Charadriiformes) | |||||||||||||||
| Family: | Gull (Laridae) iNaturalist Observation | |||||||||||||||
| Species: | Crested Tern (Thalasseus bergii ssp cristatus)| This Photo: | S1, In Flight, underwing | Other name: | Great Crested Tern | Thank you Louis O'neill & Andrew Taylor (Andrew-Taylor) for confirming the id of this species for us General Species Information: Found in the Murray Mallee SA, Coastal Areas and possibly elsewhere The size of these is quite deceptive, having large wings. On the ground they appear relatively small, but in the sky take on a whole different perspective. The speckled head is non-breeding plumage. The solid black head cap is breeding plumage. The amount of white between the beak & eyes is diagnostic for this species. We weren't sure why the tern was carrying a whole fish so far (~10km) from where it caught it. It appears that the chicks can take a whole fish. It doesn't need to be swallowed & regurgitated, as is so often seen. As such, we believe it was taking food back to it's nest.
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