Roseate Tern

1. Exceptionally long, deeply forked white tail streamers

2. Pale overall appearance, with a faint pink flush on the breast in breeding season

3. Black bill with reddish base and bright red legs during breeding

Roseate Terns are specialised feeders, foraging mostly on small schooling fish by plunge-diving or dipping from flight. Breeding occurs mainly May-September. They breed in small colonies, often with Common or Black-naped Terns, laying 1–2 eggs in a simple scrape among rocks, shells, or sparse vegetation. Both parents share incubation, which lasts about 21–26 days, and care for the chicks, which fledge after 25–30 days. Chicks may leave the nest to seek shelter nearby a few days after hatching, and parents continue to feed and tend them for several weeks after fledging.

In Australia, Roseate Terns breed on offshore sandy, rocky, or coral islands, especially in tropical and subtropical regions such as the Great Barrier Reef, Coral Sea, and northern and western coasts. They prefer barren or sparsely vegetated islets and often nest in mixed colonies with other terns. Outside breeding, they are seen over shallow sandbars, shoals, and tide-rips, often in association with other seabirds.