Gull-billed Tern

Facts about the Gull-billed Tern it is a marine bird that belongs to the genus Gelochelidon of the family Sternidae. The binomial name of the Gull-billed Tern is Gelochelidon Nilotica and it rears in warmer regions of the world in the southern parts of Europe, moderate, and eastern parts of Asia, both coastlines of North America, eastern parts of Australia, and South America. The Gull-billed Tern has many geological races, differing mostly in size and in slight plumage details. All forms of Gull-billed Terns show a post-breeding dispersion, but the northern seabirds are more migratory, and they winter from south to Africa, the northern parts of South America, the Caribbean, New Zealand, and the southern parts of Asia.

Features

The Gull-billed Tern is a fairly big and commanding tern, with the body length that ranges from 13 inches to 17 inches (33 cm to 42 cm), with a wingspan that ranges from 30 inches to 36 inches (76 cm to 91 cm) and a body weight between 150 grams and 292 grams (5.3 Oz and 10.3 Oz).

The Gull-billed Tern is equal in size and has a general look of a Sandwich Tern. However, the Gull-billed Tern has a short, thick bill similar to that of a gull. The Gull-billed Tern has distinctive long legs, broad wings, and a strong body. The summer adult Gull-billed Tern has white underparts, gray upper parts, a black color cap, black color legs, and a strong black color bill. During the winter season, the Gull-billed Tern will lose its cap, and there is a dark area through its eye similar to that of a Mediterranean Gull or a Forster's Tern.

The Gull-billed Tern is a typical Tern and looks similar to a Sterna Tern, but with nourishing habits more similar to the Black Tern, Chlidonias Marsh Tern, and white-winged Tern. The Gull-billed Tern used to be crowded in the Sterna genus, but currently, this tern is positioned on its own in the Gelochelidon genus.

Juvenile birds of the Sandwich Terns will boast a fainter mask, but otherwise appear much similar to winter adults. These young birds have a petite bill, and are often wrongly understood as the Gull-billed Tern, and they are uncommon in places, like North Sea coastlines.

Diet

Usually, the Gull-billed Terns do not dive down for fish similar to the other terns. The Gull-billed Tern has a wider diet than nearly all other terns. The Gull-billed Tern mostly feeds on insects taken during the flight, and it often hunts over damp fields, as well, and even in brushy regions, to feed on amphibians and small creatures, in addition to the chicks, small birds, and the eggs of other marine birds. The Gull-billed Tern is an opportunistic feeder, as well, and it has been observed to lift up and feed on deceased dragonflies from the street.

Breeding

The Gull-billed Tern usually rears in settlements on marshes, lakes, and coastlines. The Gull-billed Tern construct their nests on ground scrape and the female bird will lay two to five eggs in the nest. Though extensively scattered in the freshwater regions in Eurasia, a Gull-billed Tern is associated approximately exclusively with salt water, coastal regions in North America.

The maximum life span of the Gull-billed Tern is 16 years.