Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge
Pacific Region
 

Birds of Midway Atoll

Little Tern / Sterna albifrons

Photo of Little tern

Description

Mainly white with a dark crown, pale grey back and upperwings. The eye is dark brown. When breeding, the bill is yellow, the crown black with a short, pointed white brow and the black eye-line reaches the bill. In non-breeding plumage, the crown is mottled with white and the bill blackish. The wing tips are two-toned grey to black on the outer primaries (flight feathers). The sexes are similar and immature birds are similar to non-breeding adults with upper wings and back mottled grey and brown.

 

Little Tern
Photo credit: Changhua Coast Conservation Action/Flickr

  

Midway Population

Little terns are not common at Midway, but a small number nest on Sand Island.

Feeding Habits

The little tern eats small fish, insects, crustaceans and other invertebrates. It prefers to feed over shallower coastal waters and can hover briefly with the body horizontal and the bill pointing down, before plunging into the water to catch prey.

Breeding

Breeds in small colonies, with each mating pair producing a single brood. The sexes share nest-building, incubation and care of young. The nest is a shallow scrape in sand or shingle, usually just above the high tide mark on sandy shores, and is unlined but often rimmed with fragments of shell or dry seaweed.
Last updated: February 3, 2011