Wildlife Watching Wednesday: The Handsome Caspian Tern
By: Tom Berg
The Caspian tern is the largest of all terns and can be found all over the world. It is about the size of an American crow. It migrates through much of the United States in the springtime, and in North America it breeds in isolated spots along the Great Lakes and large bodies of water in Canada. There are also some breeding colonies in the western USA and along both sea coasts.
The Caspian Tern is a regal-looking bird, with its white plumage and crown of jet black feathers on top of its head. Its powerful wings are grayish-white and it has a very sharp, bright red beak. This bird got its name in 1770 when Prussian zoologist and explorer Peter Pallas collected a sample on the shores of the Caspian Sea, where these birds are still common. Evidently he did not know how widely these terns ranged throughout the world.
Caspian terns nest on the ground, usually on the edges of beaches or in other sandy locations. Wide-open nesting areas allow the birds to see predators approaching from long distances. The nest itself is nothing more than a small depression in the sand, usually lined with small twigs, vegetation and other debris from the nearby area. Most terns lay 1-3 sand-colored eggs, and they only have one brood per season.
Like most terns, the Caspian tern’s diet consists mostly of small fish. They catch fish by flying over the shallows of lakes, marshes, rivers and seashores, often hovering until they spot their next target. Then they make a steep dive and often hit the water hard. When they emerge with a fish, they usually swallow it quickly on the wing and begin searching for the next fish. When they have young chicks in the nest, they will bring whole fish back to the nest.
Besides fish, Caspian terns have been known to occasionally raid the nests of other birds to eat their eggs and even eat newly hatched birds. They will also eat crustaceans like crabs along saltwater coasts and crayfish on inland waterways. But small fish are always their first choice!
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