A migratory bird with long, narrow wings and a forked tail that plunges into water to catch fish.
It is white to pale grey, with a dark cap and red bill in breeding plumage. Its tail is deeply forked.
Common Terns breeding on South Island off Virginia’s coast spent 22% of their time foraging and 20% flying to and from feeding areas. The remaining 58% was spent at the colony. Their farthest recorded feeding area was 98 km from the island.
Foraging areas averaged 13.6 km from the colony, and individuals differed in the places they used. A typical trip was 46 km and lasted 3.4 hours. Many birds left after sunrise, foraged from early afternoon into evening, and returned to the colony around midnight. Feeding locations formed about eight high-use areas from the James River mouth to a reservoir. Bridge-tunnel construction made the former nesting island unavailable, and a replacement island was proposed near commonly used feeding areas.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.
Common Terns off Virginia foraged an average of 13.6 km from their nesting island. Placing a replacement colony island near their commonly used feeding grounds was proposed as a local conservation action.