Least Tern
Sternula antillarum
eBird describes the Least Tern like this: Tiny tern with quick flicking wingbeats. A real beach bum, rarely straying far from sand, both on the coast and along inland rivers and lakes. Breeding adults have yellow bill, stumpy yellow feet, white forehead, and black cap. Nonbreeding and immatures have a black bill, blackish nape, and dark shoulder bar, but still always identifiable by size and quick wingbeats. Often seen with other terns. Listen for shrill high-pitched calls. All About Birds offers this additional descriptive information about the Least Tern: Everything about the Least Tern is sharp, from its brilliant yellow bill, to its crisp black-and-white head pattern, to its slender pointed wings and forked tail. This smallest of the world’s terns is a noisy presence around its breeding colonies and in coastal waters or broad inland rivers. They fly with jerky wingbeats, hover briefly as they take aim, and then dive into the water to catch small fish. Breeding males often bring these fish back to feed their mates, leading to graceful aerial displays.
I saw my first Least Tern near the jetty at Quintana Beach on the afternoon of April 18, 2021. I observed a small flock of Least Tern near a larger flock of Gulls and larger Terns. What a cute little bird! To see my blog post that includes my visit to Quintana Beach and watching the flock of Least Terns, look here.
Cool Facts About the Least Tern From All About Birds:
- The Least Tern is the world’s smallest tern—it weighs in at about the same size as a mockingbird.
- The “interior” Least Tern, which nests in the vast Mississippi River drainage, was listed as Endangered in 1985 when the population was estimated at fewer than 2,000 birds. By 2021, following years of conservation efforts, the population had increased to 18,000, allowing the species to be removed from the Endangered Species List.
- On the island of Bonaire, in the southern Caribbean, resourceful Least Terns sometimes take over deserted American Flamingo nests. These towers of mud provide a cool, dry microclimate and offer protection from some nest predators.
- An American folk name for terns is “striker”—both because they hunt by striking the water and because adults dive-bomb anyone that approaches their nest. Along the Mid-Atlantic coast, Least Terns are often called “little strikers” colloquially.
- The oldest recorded Least Tern was at least 24 years, 1 month old when it was found in New Jersey in 1981. It had been banded in 1957 in Massachusetts.