Birds of Singapore
by the Bird Society of Singapore
Sterna hirundo
Family: Skimmers, Noddies, Terns, and Gulls · Status: Rare migrant · Size: 33–37 cm · Conservation: Least Concern
Breeds from West Africa to Europe, temperate Asia and North and Central America, wintering to southern Africa, the Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia, Australia and South America.
Non-breeding adult has slender, pointed blackish bill, dark red legs and feet, white forehead and lores, blackish mask and nape, greyish mantle and long deeply forked tail (at rest, tail tips level with folded wingtips). Breeding adult has orange-red bill with black tip, black forehead to nape and long tail-streamers. Juvenile resembles non-breeding adult but has blackish leading edge to upperwing.
Open seas, coastal habitats, mudflats, marshes and reservoirs.
Fishes by plunging steeply into water.