White-fronted Tern

1. Narrow white band separates the black cap from the long, pointed black bill

2. Long, deeply forked white tail extending beyond the wingtips

3. Pale grey upperparts and clean white underparts

White-fronted Terns breed in large, dense colonies from October to January, usually on shingle riverbeds, sand dunes, cliffs, rocky stacks, or beaches. Nests are simple scrapes on bare ground, sometimes lined with small stones. Clutch size is usually 1–2 eggs (rarely 3), and both parents share incubation, which lasts about 24 days. Chicks are semi-precocial and remain in the colony for about 35 days. Both parents feed the chicks, and young may remain dependent on adults for up to 6 months after fledging. Their diet consists mainly of small fish, which they catch by plunge-diving from 3–10 metres above the water, often in large, cooperative flocks.

White-fronted Terns are found all around New Zealand’s coastline and offshore islands, including the Chatham, Auckland, and Stewart Islands. They breed mainly in New Zealand, but small colonies also occur on Flinders and Cape Barren Islands in Tasmania’s Bass Strait. After breeding, many (especially juveniles) disperse to southeastern Australia, where they are seen along the coasts of New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, and occasionally Queensland and South Australia. They prefer coastal waters, harbours, bays, estuaries, and sometimes venture up large rivers or onto man-made structures like disused barges.