TERNS
Also see COMMON TERN
Terns arrive down our way for breeding in the summer. They are not readily seen along our West Dunbartonshire shores, but you may pick one out when they hover before diving for fish.
Common and Artic Terns are very similar. You are most likely to see the former around here, but here are some guidelines to tell them apart as provided on the Isle of May National Nature Reserve website.
- Common Terns have long orange-red bills with a dark tip and it can appear long, and slightly de-curved. The Arctic Tern has a shorter bill and is completely blood-red in colour. Overall this can give an impression of Arctics having a small round-looking head
- Adult Common Terns can look rather dusky grey compared to the more uniformly pale grey of adult Arctic Terns. Also the structure of the bird is key’ Common terns can look bigger and bulkier compared to the more slender Arctic Tern.
- When standing (as these two photos show) the leg length of the Common Tern is much longer than that of the Arctic Tern. There is also a subtle colour difference as Common Terns have orange-red legs compared to the dull-red of Arctic’s.
- Arctic Terns can show narrow wings and their tail streamers can be of much greater length than the Common Tern. Although difficult to assess in the spring, Common terns start to show a think dark wedge to the trailing end of their wings – it is very noticeable from mid-summer and when in flight it can look black. Adult Arctic’s never show this contrast as the primaries have a neat dark trailing edge and their wing feathers are more translucent in flight.
- The head of an Adult Arctic tern can contrast against the white cheek more than usual, as it is generally a slightly paler in colour compared to the dusky grey of a Common Tern.
ISLE OF MAY NATIONAL NATURE RESERVE website : https://isleofmaynnr.wordpress.com/2020/04/20/arctic-and-common-terns-but-which-one/#:~:text=However%2C%20a%20closer%20look%20and%20you%20can%20pick,shorter%20bill%20and%20is%20completely%20blood-red%20in%20colour.
