Family: Laridae, Gulls and Terns view all from this family

Description 16" (41 cm). Adult black above with white forehead; white below. Deeply forked tail; thin black bill. Immature birds are dark brown, finely spotted with white on back and wings.

Habitat Coastal and oceanic islands during breeding season; open ocean at other times.

Nesting 1 white egg, with reddish brown blotches, in a hollow in the sand; occasionally on rocks or ledges. Almost always nests in large colonies.

Range Tropical seas; in North America breeds only on Dry Tortugas, Florida.

Voice Harsh squeaky notes and croaks.

Discussion Sooty Terns are notorious wanderers; when not nesting they range far and wide over the seas. Perhaps this is why they are so often blown inland, sometimes many hundreds of miles, by hurricanes and tropical storms. These birds have a remarkable homing ability. When individuals marked with a dye were taken from their breeding grounds on the Dry Tortugas and released along the coasts of North Carolina and Texas, all returned to their breeding grounds within one to seven days. Sooty Terns feed largely at dusk and at night. Unlike most other terns, they do not dive but pluck small fish and squid from the surface of the water. They spend most of their time in the air, almost never perching or alighting on the water.