Bridled tern
Sterna anaethetus
Identification Tips:
- Sexes similar
- Medium-sized tern with long wings
- Dark, slender, pointed bill
- Long, dark, deeply forked tail
- Smoothly rounded head without crest
- Gray-brown upperparts
- Black legs
- Limited range in United States-mostly pelagic
Adult:
- Black cap with thin white forehead patch
- White collar
- White underparts
- White underwing coverts and dark flight feathers below
- Pale bases to primaries on underwing
Juvenile:
- Dark upperparts with pale edges to feathers
- White underparts
- White collar
- Head pattern less distinct than adult
- Paler wing linings and belly
Similar species:
The dark upperparts and white underparts of the adult Bridled Tern are
also found in the Sooty Tern but note that the Bridled Tern has a black cap,
white collar, and gray-brown upperparts while the Sooty Tern is uniformly dark
from the cap to the upperparts. From below, the Sooty Tern has darker flight
feathers than the Bridled Tern.