Black Tern
(Chlidonias niger)
Conservation • Description • Habitat • Ecology • Distribution • Taxonomy
Conservation Status |
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| IUCN Red List | LC - Least Concern |
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| NatureServe | N4B - Apparently Secure Breeding SNRB - Unranked Breeding |
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| Minnesota | not listed Species in Greatest Conservation Need |
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Description
Black tern is a small marsh tern.
Adults are 91⁄16″ to 143⁄16″ (23 to 36 cm) in length and have a wingspan of 227⁄16″ to 23⅝″ (57 to 60 mm). Breeding adults have a black head, neck, breast, and underparts, and a gray back. The wings are long, pointed, and gray. The tail is gray and shallowly forked. The undertail coverts are white. The bill is long, slender, and black. The legs are short and reddish-black. Nonbreeding adults have white underparts and a white forehead.
Size
Total Length: 91⁄16″ to 143⁄16″ (23 to 36 cm)
Wingspan: 227⁄16″ to 23⅝″ (57 to 60 mm)
Voice
The call is a metallic kik …
… or a slurred k-seek.
Similar Species
This is the only black tern. Other terns are light colored.
Habitat
Breeding: Shallow cattail marshes in wetlands and at the edges of shallow lakes.
Migration: Marshes near open water, flooded farm fields, edges of lakes and rivers, and sewage ponds.
Ecology
Migration
Late April to early October
Nesting
A loose nest of dead plant material is built on floating vegetation or a muskrat mound.
Food
Insects and small fish
Distribution
Occurrence
Common migrant and breeder. Declining.
Maps
The Minnesota Ornithologists’ Union All Seasons Species Occurrence Map
Taxonomy
Class
Aves (birds)
Order
Charadriiformes (shorebirds and allies)
Family
Laridae (gulls, terns, and skimmers)
Subfamily
Anoinae
Genus
Chlidonias (marsh terns)
Subordinate Taxa
American Black Tern (Chlidonias niger surinamensis) 
Eurasian Black Tern (Chlidonias niger niger)
Synonyms
Childonias niger
Chilidonias niger
Chlidonias fissipes
Sterna niger
Visitor Photos
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James Folden |
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MinnesotaSeasons.com Photos
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Slideshows
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Other Videos
Black Tern (Chlidonias niger) A Few Chirps a Little Preening - Galveston County Texas
Colette Micallef
BLACK TERN flying Chlidonias niger
Rob Curtis
American Black Tern (Chlidonias niger surinamensis)
Andrew Cooper
Visitor Sightings
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James Folden
7/8/2018
Location: Nicollet County, over Swan Lake
MinnesotaSeasons.com Sightings
