The Least Tern is a small member of the interesting family - Sternidae. These skillful flyers get their food by flitting above the water and darting down to grab fish that appear at the surface.
They live from the southernmost United States to the northern third of South America.
As a species, it is not endangered, but the subspecies S. a. athalassos and S. a. brownii have been listed as endangered due to loss of breeding habitat.
Classification:
Order: Charadriiformes
Family: Sternidae
Genus: Sternula
Species: S. antillarum
Photos:
Now That’s A Mouth Full! ~ Endangered Least Terns
"It is amazing to see these tiny atoms of life swallow whole sand eels www.gma.org/fogm/Ammodytes_americanus.htm that are longer than they are! The Least Tern chicks pictured are about the size of a lemon! Some chicks would walk around with the sand eel tail sticking out of their mouths for 30 minutes before being able to totally ingest the sand eel!"
Photo courtesy of William Dalton
Least Tern Toddler
"Least Tern Sterna antillarum One of the best things about our morning by the Least Tern nests was that we got to see all of the different stages of the tern development. There were of course the adults, but we also got to see newborn chicks, chicks who were a week or two old, and juveniles who were either fledged or very close to it. I think this little guy was on the cusp of earning his wings. Although he spent most of his time running, he did try some small hops at times."
Photo courtesy of martytdx
Ed. Note: You can get an idea from this photo why the terns and gulls are related to the sandpipers. Read the rest of this entry »
