Blue-billed White-Tern

Basic Description

The Blue-billed White-Tern is a gorgeous all-white seabird of tropical and subtropical islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It's also known as "fairy tern" for its graceful, fluttering flight, brilliant white plumage, and translucent wings and tail. This medium-sized tern has a black, daggerlike bill with a blue base, and a black eye accentuated by a black eyering. Blue-billed White-Terns do not build a nest, instead laying a single egg directly on a tree branch, ledge, or building surface. Less social than many other terns, this species does join loose feeding groups with other seabirds, targeting small fish stirred up by schools of larger predatory fish.