Gull-Billed Tern

Gull-Billed Tern is a fairly large, powerful tern, similar in size to a Sandwich tern. with a short, thick gull-like bill, broad wings, long legs and a robust body. It is 33 to 42 cm long with a wingspan of 76 to 91 cm. The summer adult has grey upperparts, white underparts, a black cap, and a strong black bill and legs. The call is a characteristic ker-wik (Wikipedia, general species account). (Wikipedia, general species account).

It does not normally plunge dive for fish like the other white terns, and has a broader diet than most other terns. It is also an opportunistic feeder, and has been observed to pick up and feed on dead dragonflies from the road. It breeds in scattered places in Europe, Asia, north-west Africa and the Americas, and five subspecies are recognised. The Australian form was previously counted as a subspecies (Wikipedia, general species account). (Wikipedia, general species account).