Bird
Bird
Sandwich Tern
Thalasseus sandvicensis
The Sandwich Tern is a slender, crested seabird of Trinidad and Tobago's coastal waters, recognisable by its shaggy black cap and long black bill with a distinctive yellow tip.
The Sandwich Tern is a slender, crested seabird of Trinidad and Tobago's coastal waters, recognisable by its shaggy black cap and long black bill with a distinctive yellow tip.
Identification
A medium-sized tern around 37 to 43 cm long, with pale grey upperparts, white underparts, a shaggy black crest, and a long, slender black bill tipped bright yellow, a distinctive combination unlike any other regularly occurring tern in T&T waters. Flight is light and graceful, typical of the genus.
Behaviour
Forages over open coastal and offshore waters, hovering before plunge-diving for small fish, often in loose association with other terns. It typically rests in mixed flocks with other seabirds on beaches, sandbars, and rocky shores between foraging bouts, and does not breed in Trinidad and Tobago, occurring mainly as a non-breeding visitor.
Status in T&T
Present along coastal and offshore waters of Trinidad and Tobago, generally as a non-breeding visitor rather than a resident breeder. Not considered threatened. It is protected as native wildlife under the Conservation of Wildlife Act.
