Sooty Tern (Onychoprion fuscatus) lives in tropical islands across Global tropics. It feeds on fish and squid. Its conservation status is Least Concern.
Hear the Sooty Tern
A real field recording of the Sooty Tern, made in the wild.
Sooty terns can stay out to sea for 3 to 10 years, never touching land except to breed, because their feathers lack oil and they cannot float. This extreme pelagic lifestyle means they spend most of their lives soaring over open ocean, only returning to isolated islands to raise a chick. Even rare sightings far from their range, like a bird that lingered for 11 days in July 2005 at Cemlyn Bay, Wales, highlight how they can wander vast distances before finally landing.
A male sooty tern was found exhausted on August 2 1933 on the slopes of Mount Cameroon, about 1,000 m (3,300 ft) above sea level, after foul weather hit the Gulf of Guinea. Such storm-driven inland stranding shows how powerful tropical cyclones can push these ocean-bound birds far from their normal pelagic realm, and hurricanes are known to devastate their small breeding colonies on cays such as those off Colombia's San Andrés Islands.
Polynesian sailors called the bird "manutara", literally "tern-bird", because they encountered massive flocks wherever they voyaged. In the traditional tangata manu (bird-man) ritual on Easter Island, the first manutara egg retrieved from Motu Nui crowned the champion as that year's bird-man, granting his clan privileged access to resources, especially the prized seabird eggs.
Measuring 36-45 cm (14-17.5 in) in length with an 82-94 cm (32.5-37 in) wingspan, the sooty tern is a medium-large tern whose black-brown plumage masks its size. Despite this, individuals have an average life span of 32 years.
When breeding, a sooty tern digs a shallow ground scrape or hole and lays a single egg, usually in the afternoon. Reports of two-egg clutches are thought to be accidental, caused when an egg rolls from one nest into another.
Sources
Every fact above was checked against these pages, and kept only where one of them states it.
As the sun rises over the coral atolls, a flurry of sooty terns erupts into the sky, their sleek, dark silhouettes etched against the radiant blue like a scattering of charcoal shards. With wings beating in a hypnotic rhythm, they dance on the breeze, their agility and precision a testament to their mastery of the oceanic realm, where they have reigned for millennia. In their effortless glide, we witness the embodiment of a life lived in perfect harmony with the winds and waves that shape their world.
Advertisement
Hear the Sooty Tern, and 4,400+ more
Real recorded sounds, 11 nature games and a free Daily 5, 1v1 quiz duels, conservation wins and a safe Kids mode. Free on Feravox.
