Bridled Tern

The Bridled Tern (Sterna anaethetus) is a seabird of the tern family Sternidae. It is found in tropical oceans: the Atlantic race breeds in Mexico, the Caribbean and west Africa, and other races around Arabia and in southeast Asia and Australasia.

This migratory bird is dispersive and winters more widely through the tropical oceans. It has markedly marine habits compared to most terns. This species is a rare vagrant to Western Europe.

This species breeds in colonies on rocky islands where it builds its nest in a ground scrape or hole into which the female lays one egg. It feeds by plunge-diving for fish in marine environments, but will also pick from the surface like the Black Tern and the Gull-billed Tern. It usually dives directly, and not from the “stepped-hover” favored by the Arctic Tern. The offering of fish by the male to the female is part of the courtship display.

This is a small tern, at 30-32 cm in length and with a 77-81 cm wingspan similar to the Common Tern in size, but more heavily built. The wings and deeply forked tail are long, and it has dark grey upperparts and white underparts. It has black legs and bill. Juvenile Bridled Terns are scaly grey above and pale below.

This species is unlikely to be confused with any tern apart from the similarly dark-backed Sooty Tern. It is paler-backed than that species, and has a narrower white forehead and a pale neck collar.