Similar
A seagull standing on a wooden post by the water. Seagull water bird plumage.
A group of seagulls standing on a sandy beach. Gulls bird beach.
A white bird standing on a rock in the water. Heron bird nature, animals.
A seagull flying over a body of water. Seagull new flight.
A bird flying over a body of water. Long billed curlew bird flying.
A seagull taking off from the water. Birds seagull duck.
A seagull standing on a beach next to the ocean. Seagull bird sea gull.
A seagull flying low over the water. Hiddensee walk on the beach seagull flying.
A white and black bird standing on a concrete ledge. Seagull tern bird.
Related
Red-bellied woodpecker (Melanerpes carolinus), Timucuan Ecological & Historic Preserve, 2015.
Water lillies, Timucuan Ecological & Historic Preserve, 2015.
Gopher tortoise (Gopherus polyphemus), Timucuan Ecological & Historic Preserve, 2015.
American oystercatcher (Haematopus palliatus), Timucuan Ecological & Historic Preserve, 2015.
White-rumped sandpiper (Calidris fuscicollis), Timucuan Ecological & Historic Preserve, 2015.
American white ibis (Eudocimus albus), Timucuan Ecological & Historic Preserve, 2015.
Western kingbird (Tyranunus vertialis), Theodore Roosevelt National Park, 2015.
Tarantula (Theraphosidae), Tonto National Monument, 2015.
Ibises (Threskiornithinae), Minidoka National Historic Site, 2015.
Royal tern (Thalasseus maximus maximus), Timucuan Ecological & Historic Preserve, 2015.
Summary
The royal tern lives on the coast and is only found near salt water. There are two distinct subspecies: one lives on the Atlantic & Pacific coasts of north and south America (pictured: T. m. maximus) and the other that lives on the coast of west Africa (T. m. albididorsalis). During breeding season, the royal tern has a black cap and red-orange bill. In nonbreeding season, the cap becomes patchy. Distinguish this large tern from the similar but larger Caspian tern by its lack of dark under wing patches present in the Caspian tern. Like many other shorebirds, precocial young royal terns leave the nest / scrape within one day after hatching and congregate together in a group known as a crèche (from French). Eventually all of the chicks in a colony come to the crèche, which can have thousands of chicks ranging in age from two to 35 days old! A pair of royal terns will feed only their own chick and manage to find it in the crowd by recognizing its call.