Juveniles can spend three to five years in practically continuous flight over the ocean, settling neither on water nor on land: they sleep on the wing and only come down when they return to breed.
From Sooty Tern
Its tropical colonies are deafening and its ceaseless call has earned it the English nickname wideawake, the one that keeps you up.
From Sooty Tern
GPS tracking studies have shown it can cover up to 90,000 km a year by following favourable wind patterns.
From Arctic Tern
It eats small fish such as herring and capelin, and crustaceans such as krill.
From Arctic Tern
It lives on open tundra, boreal forest and rocky coasts of the circumpolar Arctic.
From Arctic Tern
It makes no nest: it lays the egg balanced directly on a bare branch, and many are lost to the wind. The chick hatches with disproportionately large claws that let it grip the bark from its first day.
From Atlantic White Tern
It is the unofficial city bird of Honolulu, where an urban colony nests in the street trees and where it is protected by municipal ordinance.
From Atlantic White Tern
It can plunge from several metres up to snatch small fish just below the surface.
From Common Tern

Ecosystems