Black Tern Images

Black Tern Images, Facts and Information:

Chlidonias niger

• Black Terns are small and dark with short, dark legs with small, dark narrow bills. In breeding plumage they have dark bodies and heads, wings are silvery gray and they have white vents. In nonbreeding plumage their heads and underparts are white and they will have a dark spot behind their eyes.
• Black Terns are migratory. Winters are spent along the north coastlines of South America. They can be found in much of North America during migration. They breed throughout the northern tier of the U.S including Alaska and southern Canada.
• Black Terns prefer habits that include lakes, marshes, ponds and coastal areas.
• Black Terns eat fish, insect and small mollusks. They catch and eat insects on the wing.
• Black Terns lay 2 to 4 eggs which hatch in 17 to 22 days. Both sexes incubate and they are monogamous, colonial nesters.
• A group of terns can be called a “ternery” of terns.
• Black Terns can live to be more than 11 years of age.