white tern

{{Speciesbox

| image = Gygis alba Ascension Island 1.jpg

| image_caption = Nominate Gygis alba alba on Ascension Island

| status = LC

| status_system = IUCN3.1

| status_ref = {{cite iucn |author=BirdLife International |date=2018 |title=Gygis alba |volume=2018 |page=e.T22694821A132576063 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-2.RLTS.T22694821A132576063.en |access-date=12 November 2021}}

| genus = Gygis

| parent_authority =

| species = alba

| authority = (Sparrman, 1786)

| range_map = Gygis alba map.svg

}}

The white tern or common white tern (Gygis alba) is a small seabird found across the tropical oceans of the world.{{Cite web|title=Common White Tern (Gygis alba) - BirdLife species factsheet|url=http://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/common-white-tern-gygis-alba|access-date=2021-05-04|website=datazone.birdlife.org}} It is sometimes known as the fairy tern, although this name is potentially confusing as it is also the common name of Sternula nereis. Other names for the species include angel tern and white noddy in English, and manu-o-Kū in Hawaiian. In the Cook Islands, it is known as the kakaia.

Taxonomy

The white tern was first formally described by the Swedish naturalist Anders Sparrman in 1786 under the binomial name Sterna alba.{{ cite book | last=Sparrman | first=Anders | author-link=Anders Sparrman | year=1786–1789 | title=Museum Carlsonianum, in quo novas et selectas aves, coloribus ad vivum brevique descriptiones illustratas | volume=fasc. 1 | place=Holmiae | publisher=Ex Typographia Regia | language=la | at=Plate 11 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/41149055 }} The genus Gygis was introduced by the German zoologist Johann Georg Wagler in 1832.{{ cite journal | last=Wagler | first=Johann Georg | author-link=Johann Georg Wagler | year=1832 | title=Neue Cippen und Gattugen der Caugthiere und Vögel | journal=Isis von Oken | at=Column 1223 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/26455531 | language=de, la }} The name Gygis is from the Ancient Greek {{Transliteration|grc|guges}} for a mythical bird and the specific {{lang|la|alba}} is Latin for "white".{{cite book | last=Jobling | first=James A. | year=2010| title= The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names | publisher=Christopher Helm | location=London | isbn= 978-1-4081-2501-4 | pages=37, 182 }}

Molecular phylogenetic studies have shown that the white tern is more closely related to the noddies (Anous) than it is to the other terns.{{ cite journal | last1=Baker | first1=A.J. | last2=Pereira | first2=S.L. | last3=Paton | first3=T.A. | year=2007 | title=Phylogenetic relationships and divergence times of Charadriiformes genera: multigene evidence for the Cretaceous origin of at least 14 clades of shorebirds | journal=Biology Letters | volume=3 | issue=2 | pages=205–209 | doi=10.1098/rsbl.2006.0606 | pmc=2375939 | pmid=17284401}} {{ cite journal | title=Erratum: Phylogenetic relationships and divergence times of Charadriiformes genera: multigene evidence for the Cretaceous origin of at least 14 clades of shorebirds | year=2008 | journal=Biology Letters | volume=4 | pages=762–763 | doi=10.1098/rsbl.2006.0606erratum | last1 = Baker | first1 = Allan J | last2 = Pereira | first2 = Sérgio L | last3 = Paton | first3 = Tara A| doi-access= free }}{{cite journal | last=Černý | first=David | last2=Natale | first2=Rossy | title=Comprehensive taxon sampling and vetted fossils help clarify the time tree of shorebirds (Aves, Charadriiformes) | journal=Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution | volume=177 | date=2022 | doi=10.1016/j.ympev.2022.107620 | doi-access=free | page=107620 | url=https://www.biorxiv.org/content/biorxiv/early/2021/07/16/2021.07.15.452585.full.pdf | access-date=2025-02-27}} This implies that "white noddy" would be a more appropriate English name;{{cite web | title=Noddies, skimmers, gulls, terns, skuas, auks – IOC World Bird List | website=IOC World Bird List – Version 14.2 | date=2025-02-20 | url=https://www.worldbirdnames.org/new/bow/gulls/ | access-date=2025-02-27}} this has been taken up by at least one major text.{{cite book | last=Howell | first=Steve N. G. | last2=Zufelt | first2=Kirk | title=Oceanic Birds of the World | publisher=Princeton University Press | publication-place=Princeton, New Jersey | date=2019-08-20 | isbn=978-0-691-17501-0 | pages=322–337}}

The white tern has four accepted subspecies:{{cite book|title=Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive|last2=Burger|first2=J.|last3=Christie|first3=D.A.|last4=Kirwan|first4=G.M.|publisher=Lynx Edicions|chapter=Common White Tern (Gygis alba)|last1=Gochfeld|first1=M.|editor1-last=del Hoyo|editor1-first=J.|editor2-last=Elliott|editor2-first=A.|editor3-last=Sargatal|editor3-first=J.|editor4-last=Christie|editor4-first=D.A.|editor5-last=de Juana|editor5-first=E.|chapter-url=http://www.hbw.com/node/54054|access-date=16 April 2017}}{{cite journal |last1=Pratt |first1=H. Douglas |title=Species limits and English names in the genus Gygis (Laridae) |journal=Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club |date=22 June 2020 |volume=140 |issue=2 |pages=195–208 |doi=10.25226/bboc.v140i2.2020.a10 |doi-access=free }}

G. a. alba (Sparrman, 1786) — islands of the south tropical Atlantic Ocean including Fernando de Noronha, Trindade, Martin Vas Rocks, Ascension and Saint Helena islands. Larger, 25–30 cm; bill slender, slightly downcurved, all-black; legs dark grey.
G. a. candida (J. F. Gmelin, 1789) — Indian Ocean islands (Seychelles, Mascarene Islands, and southern Maldives) east to the central Pacific Ocean but excluding range of G. a. leucopes and G. a. microrhyncha in the more southeastern parts of the central Pacific. Larger, 25–30 cm; bill stout, black with a dark blue-grey base, and slightly uptilted at the gonydeal angle; legs dark grey.
G. a. leucopes Holyoak & Thibault, 1976 — Henderson and Pitcairn Islands. Similar to G. a. candida but with pale grey legs.
G. a. microrhyncha H. Saunders, 1876 (Little white tern) — Line Islands, Marquesas Islands, Phoenix Islands and Kiribati. Smaller, 23–25 cm, with a slender black bill slightly uptilted at the gonydeal angle; legs pale grey to pinkish.

The little white tern, usually considered a subspecies G. a. microrhyncha of the white tern, is treated as a separate species Gygis microrhyncha by some authors,{{Cite book|last1=del Hoyo|first1=J|title=HBW and BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World. Volume 1: Non-passerines.|last2=Collar|first2=N.J.|last3=Christie|first3=D.A.|last4=Elliott|first4=A.|last5=Fishpool|first5=L.D.C.|publisher=Lynx Edicions BirdLife International|year=2014|location=Barcelona, Spain and Cambridge, UK.}} but not by either the IOC World Bird List or the Clements Checklist of Birds of the World.

One study has gone further and suggested that there may be three species of Gygis, with Gygis alba in the Atlantic Ocean, Gygis candida in the Indian and western to central Pacific Oceans, and Gygis microrhyncha in the southeast-central Pacific. This study also proposed that G. candida is gradually extending its range southeastwards, and may in the future result in the extinction of G. microrhyncha by replacing it.

Description

The white tern is {{convert|23|-|30|cm|abbr=on|in}} long with a wingspan of {{convert|76|-|87|cm|abbr=on|in}}. It has pure white plumage, except for a dark streak along the shafts of the outer primary feathers in G. a. candida), a black eye accentuated by a narrow ring of black feathers round the eye, and a long black to bluish-black bill. The tail is shallowly forked, but like in the noddies, with the longest feathers the second-from outermost, not the outermost as in other terns. The legs are dark grey, to paler grey in G. a. leucopes and G. a. microrhyncha.Niethammer, K. R., and L. B. Patrick-Castilaw. 1998. White Tern (Gygis alba). in The Birds of North America, No. 371 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Birds of North America, Inc., Philadelphia, PA. {{doi|10.2173/bna.371}} The juvenile is white mottled with grey or greyish-brown. Nesting on coral islands, usually on trees with small branches but also on rocky ledges and on man-made structures, the white tern feeds on small fish which it catches by plunge diving.

Distribution and habitat

The white tern ranges widely across tropical regions of South Atlantic Ocean, the Pacific Ocean from the coasts of Chile and Colombia to New Zealand and along the eastern and southern coasts of Asia from China to India, South Maldives, the islands of the Indian Ocean, and the coast of South Africa. Occasional vagrants have been found in Japan, Madagascar, Mexico, and on some islands north of the Equator in the Atlantic Ocean. It is a pelagic and epipelagic bird, living along the coast and moving into wooded areas during the breeding season.

Gygis alba MHNT.ZOO.2010.11.131.11.jpg|Gygis alba egg - MHNT

File:White Tern Tench Island.jpg|G. a. candida, Tench Island, Bismarck Archipelago, Papua New Guinea

File:Fairy or White Tern hatchling.jpg|G. a. candida chick, Midway Island, Hawaii

File:WhiteTernSeychelles.jpg|G. a. candida parents near their chick, Cousin Island, Seychelles

File:Gygis alba -Cousin Island -Seychelles -juvenile-8.jpg|G. a. candida juvenile showing the mottled plumage, Cousin Island, Seychelles

File:White tern with fish.jpg|G. a. candida with a fish

File:Kiribati(064).JPG|G. a. microrhyncha, Kiribati

File:White tern (Gygis alba candida) in flight Rarotonga 2.jpg|G. a. candida in flight, Rarotonga, Cook Islands

Behaviour

This species is notable for laying its egg on bare thin branches in a small fork or depression without a nest. This behaviour is unusual for terns, which generally nest on the ground, and even the related tree-nesting black noddy constructs a nest. It is thought that the reason for the absence of nests is the reduction in nest parasites, which in some colonial seabirds can cause the abandonment of an entire colony.{{cite journal | last1 = Houston | first1 = D.C. | year = 1978 | title = Why do fairy terns Gygis alba not build nests? | journal = Ibis | volume = 121 | issue = 1| pages = 102–104 | doi = 10.1111/j.1474-919X.1979.tb05023.x }} In spite of these benefits there are costs associated with tree nesting, as the eggs and chicks are vulnerable to becoming dislodged by heavy winds. For this reason the white tern is also quick to relay should it lose the egg. The newly hatched chicks have well-developed feet with which to hang on to their precarious nesting site. It is a long-lived bird, having been recorded living for 42 years.Hawaii’s Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation Strategy, 1 October 2005

Predators

Giant tortoises have been observed to hunt chicks of this bird on Fregate Island in the Seychelles.{{Cite journal|last1=Zora|first1=Anna|last2=Gerlach|first2=Justin|date=2021-08-23|title=Giant tortoises hunt and consume birds|journal=Current Biology|language=English|volume=31|issue=16|pages=R989–R990|doi=10.1016/j.cub.2021.06.088|pmid=34428417|issn=0960-9822|doi-access=free|bibcode=2021CBio...31.R989Z }}

Relationship with humans

The white tern, manu-o-Kū, was named Honolulu, Hawai{{okina}}i's official bird on April 2, 2007.

New Zealand's Department of Conservation classifies the white tern as Nationally Critical, with populations having been largely decimated by the introduction of feral cats and rats on Raoul Island, the terns' only breeding site in the country.{{Cite book|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/770307954|title=Island invasives : eradication and management : proceedings of the International Conference on Island Invasives|date=2011|publisher=IUCN|others=C. R. Veitch, Michael N. Clout, D. R. Towns, International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources. Species Survival Commission, Centre for Biodiversity & Biosecurity|isbn=978-2-8317-1291-8|location=Gland, Switzerland|oclc=770307954}} As of 2016, the white tern population in New Zealand was reported to be increasing following the eradication of introduced predators in 2002.{{Cite book|last=Robertson|first=Hugh A.|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/993614035|title=Conservation status of New Zealand birds, 2016|date=2017|others=Karen Baird, J. E. Dowding, Graeme Elliott, Rod Hitchmough, Colin Miskelly, Nikki McArthur|isbn=978-1-988514-23-9|location=Wellington, New Zealand|oclc=993614035}} Globally, the white tern has a large range that is home to several large colonies, and both recognised species are listed as Least Concern by the IUCN Red List.