Gull-billed Tern

The Gull-billed Tern is medium, stocky and with wide, pale gray wings that have black on the tips. It has a stout black bill, a short notched tail, a white body and black legs. While breeding their cap is black, and during winter their head is nearly white, with a dark smudge behind their eyes. Juveniles resemble winter adults.

References cited in Species Profile

• Blus, L. J. and C. J. Stafford. 1980. Breeding biology and relation of pollutants to Black Skimmers and Gull-billed Terns in South Carolina. Spec. Sci. Rep. Wildl. 230. U.S. Fish and Wildl. Serv. Washington, D.C.
• Buckley, P. A. and F. G. Buckley. 1984. Seabirds of the north and middle Atlantic coast of the United States: their status and conservation. Pages 101-133 in Status and conservation of the world's seabirds. (Croxall, J. P., P. G. H. Evans, and R. W. Schreiber, Eds.) Tech. Publ. No. 2., Internl. Council Bird Preserv. Cambridge, UK.
• Cornell Lab of Ornithology. 2015. Gull-billed Tern. All About Birds. http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Gull-billed_Tern/id
• Erwin, R. M., T. B. Eyler, J. S. Hatfield, and S. McGary. 1998. Diets of nestling Gull-billed Terns in coastal Virginia. Colonial Waterbirds 21(3):323-327.
• Erwin, R. M. 1980. Breeding habitat use by colonially nesting waterbirds in two mid-Atlantic U.S. regions under different regimes of human disturbance. Biol. Conserv. 18:39-51.
• Molina, K. C., R. M. Erwin, E. Palacios, E. Mellink, and N. W. H. Seto. 2010. Status review and conservation recommendations for the Gull-billed Tern (Gelochelidon nilotica) in North America. U.S. Department of Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service, Biological Technical Publication, FWS/BTP-R1013-2010, Washington, D.C.
• Molina, K. C., J. F. Parnell and R. M. Erwin. 2014. Gull-billed Tern (Gelochelidon nilotica), The Birds of North America Online (A. Poole, Ed.). Ithaca: Cornell Lab of Ornithology; Retrieved from the Birds of North America Online: http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/bna/species/140
• Molina, K. C. and D. A. Marschalek. 2003. Foraging behavior and diet of breeding Western Gull-billed Terns (Sterna nilotica vanrossemi) in San Diego Bay, California.Species Conservation and Recovery Program Rep. 2008-01. California Department of Fish and Game, Habitat Conservation Planning Branch, Sacramento, CA.
• Molina, K. C. 2009. The diets of nestling Gull-billed Terns at the Salon Sea, 2007 and 2008. Unpubl. report to Sonny Bono Salton Sea natl. Wildl. Refuge, Calipatria, CA.
• Møller, A. P. 1981. Breeding cycle of the Gull-billed Tern (Gelochelidon nilotica) especially in relation to colony size. Ardea 69:193-198.
• Quinn, J. S. and D. A. Wiggins. 1990. Differences in prey delivered to chicks by individual Gull-billed Terns. Colonial Waterbirds 13(1):67-69.
• Rosenberg, K.V., D. Pashley, B. Andres, P. J. Blancher, G.S. Butcher, W.C. Hunter, D. Mehlman, A.O. Panjabi, M. Parr, G. Wallace, and D. Wiedenfeld. 2014. The State of the Birds 2014 Watch List. North American Bird Conservation Initiative, U.S. Committee. Washington, D.C. 4 pages.
• Sears, H. F. 1978. Nesting behavior of the Gull-billed Tern. Bird-Banding 49:1-16. Via, J. and D. C. Duffy. 1992. Gull-billed Tern (Sterna nilotica). Pages 135-148 inMigratory nongame birds of management concern in the Northeast. (Schneider, K. J. and D. M. Pence, Eds.) U.S. Fish and Wildl. Serv. Newton Corner, MA.
• Shuford, W. D., and Gardali, T., editors. 2008. California Bird Species of Special Concern: A ranked assessment of species, subspecies, and distinct populations of birds of immediate conservation concern in California. Studies of Western Birds.