bridled tern
{{Short description|Species of bird}}
{{Speciesbox
| image = Bridled Tern LEI Nov06.JPG
| image_caption = Adult on Lady Elliot Island, Australia
| status = LC
| status_system = IUCN3.1
| genus = Onychoprion
| species = anaethetus
| authority = (Scopoli, 1786)
| synonyms = Sterna anaethetus Scopoli, 1786
| range_map = Onychoprion anaethetus map.svg
}}
File:Onychoprion anaethetus MHNT.ZOO.2010.11.131.8.jpg]]
The bridled tern (Onychoprion anaethetus){{cite book
| last = Scopoli |first = Giovanni Antonio | author-link = Giovanni Antonio Scopoli | date = 1786 | title = Deliciae florae et faunae Insubricae | volume = 2 | pages = 92 | location = Ticini | publisher = Ex Typographia Reg. & Imp. Monasterii S. Salvatoris. Praesidib. Rei litter. permittentibus | url = https://bibdigital.rjb.csic.es/idviewer/11645/123
|last1=Bridge|first1=E. S.|last2=Jones|first2= A. W.|last3=Baker|first3= A. J.|year=2005|url=http://www2.hawaii.edu/~khayes/Journal_Club/summer2006/Bridge_et_al_2005_MPE.pdf|title=A phylogenetic framework for the terns (Sternini) inferred from mtDNA sequences: implications for taxonomy and plumage evolution|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060720000000/http://www2.hawaii.edu/~khayes/Journal_Club/summer2006/Bridge_et_al_2005_MPE.pdf |archive-date=20 July 2006 |journal=Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution|volume=35|issue=2 |pages=459–469
|doi=10.1016/j.ympev.2004.12.010 |pmid=15804415 |bibcode=2005MolPE..35..459B }}Sometimes the name is (wrongly?) spelled as S. anaestheta, for instance in: {{cite journal
|last = Saunders | first = Howard | author-link = Howard Saunders | date = 1877 | title = On the Occurrence of the Smaller Sooty Tern at the Mouth of the Thames | journal = The Zoologist | series = 3 | volume = 1 | pages = 213–216
}} is a seabird of the family Laridae. It is a bird of the tropical oceans. The scientific name is from Ancient Greek. The genus comes from {{lang|grc-Latn|onux}} meaning "claw" or "nail", and {{lang|grc-Latn|prion}}, meaning "saw". The specific anaethetus means "senseless, stupid".{{cite book | last= Jobling | first= James A | year= 2010| title= The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names | url= https://archive.org/details/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling | publisher= Christopher Helm | location = London | isbn = 978-1-4081-2501-4 | pages = [https://archive.org/details/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling/page/n46 46], 282}}
Description
This is a medium-sized tern, at 30–32 cm in length and with a 77–81 cm wingspan similar to the common tern in size, but more heavily built. The wings and deeply forked tail are long, and it has dark grey upperparts and white underparts. The forehead and eyebrows are white, as is a striking collar on the hindneck. It has black legs and bill. Juvenile bridled terns are scaly grey above and pale below.
This species is unlikely to be confused with any tern apart from the similarly dark-backed sooty tern and the spectacled tern from the Tropical Pacific. It is paler-backed than that sooty, (but not as pale as the grey-backed) and has a narrower white forehead and a pale neck collar.
Distribution and movements
This bird is migratory and dispersive, wintering more widely through the tropical oceans. It has markedly marine habits compared to most terns. The Atlantic subspecies melanopterus breeds in Mexico, the Caribbean and west Africa; other races occur around the Arabian Peninsula and in Southeast Asia and Australasia, but the exact number of valid subspecies is disputed. It is a rare vagrant to western Europe.
These are the four subspecies listed by the IOC:
- O. a. melanopterus – (Swainson, 1837): Caribbean and West Africa.
- O. a. antarcticus – (Lesson, 1831): Red Sea, Persian Gulf and western Indian Ocean.
- O. a. anaethetus – (Scopoli, 1786): eastern Indian, and Pacific Oceans.
- O. a. nelsoni – (Ridgway, 1919): west coast of Mexico and Central America.
Breeding
This species breeds in colonies on rocky islands. It nests in a ground scrape or hole and lays one egg. It feeds by plunge-diving for fish in marine environments, but will also pick from the surface like the black tern and the gull-billed tern. It usually dives directly, and not from the "stepped-hover" favoured by the Arctic tern. The offering of fish by the male to the female is part of the courtship display.
{{clear}}
Various views and plumages
File:Bridledtern1.jpg|In non-breeding plumage
File:Bridled Tern.jpg|Bridled tern, at rookery
File:bridled_tern.jpg|Juvenile on Lady Elliot Island, Queensland, Australia
File:Bridled Tern flight LEI jan08.JPG|In flight Lady Elliot Island, Queensland, Australia
File:Juvenile Bridled Tern Splashing.jpg|Juvenile bathing at Perth Zoo
File:Bridled tern (Onychoprion anaethetus) Oct 2011 Karnataka Pelagic Udupi flight scape.jpg| Juvenile or adult with non-breeding plumage taking off from a sea debris perch during Pelagic expedition off coast of Malpe
Bridled tern (Onychoprion anaethetus antarcticus) after dive composite.jpg|O. a. antarcticus after dive (composite)
File:Bridled Tern from the Crossley ID Guide Britain and Ireland.jpg|ID composite
File:Bridled Tern (Onychoprion anaethetus) with egg in nest under boardwalk steps at Penguin Island, November 2022 02.jpg|With egg in nest under boardwalk steps on Penguin Island, Western Australia
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
{{Commons category|Onychoprion anaethetus}}
{{Wikispecies|Onychoprion anaethetus}}
- [https://avibase.bsc-eoc.org/species.jsp?lang=EN&avibaseid=E6518B9D5C802F2A Avibase]
{{Taxonbar|from=Q28490}}
{{Authority control}}
Category:Birds of Central America
Category:Birds of the Middle East
Category:Birds of the Indian Ocean
Category:Birds of Southeast Asia
Category:Birds of the Pacific Ocean
Category:Fauna of the Pantropical realm