Sooty Tern Onychoprion fuscatus [Linnaeus, 1766] |
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Other Names
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Records
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For details point at or click the |
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Order:
Charadriiformes
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Family: Sternidae |
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BTO Codes:
, SOOTE
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EURING No: 6230 | |
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Number in Britain:
Fewer than 20 records
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Conservation Status:
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Status in UK:
(A) Accidental
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Subspecies:
fuscatus recorded in Britain (of 7 subsp. in the world)
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Length:
34 cm
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Wingspan: 88 cm |
Weight:
-
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Scientific name from:
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Gr.: onux=claw + prion=saw and L.: fuscatus=to dark (from fuscare=to darken) |
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World Distribution:
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BREEDS: Islands in Pacific, S Atlantic & Indian Oceans, RANGES: tropical seas |
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Habitat:
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Sandy or coral beaches, otherwise pelagic |
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Diet:
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Small fish, crustaceans and squid picked from water surface |
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TitBit:
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One of the most aerial of terns, the Sooty Tern rarely comes to land, except to breed, which most do not attempt until they are at least 6 years old, during which time they may never touch the ground. |
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Records and Distribution |
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First Record:
Staffordshire, 1852
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Total Number of Records (1950-2007):
13
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Summary of Records by Year
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Most Likely to Occur in:
June to August
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Most Recent County Records:
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Scotland:
Fife
(1989),
Upper Forth
(1939),
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North-east England:
Northumberland
(1966),
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North-west England:
Cumbria
(1933),
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English Midlands:
Northamptonshire
(1980),
Staffordshire
(1852),
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Eastern England:
Norfolk
(1966),
Suffolk
(1976),
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South-east England:
Hampshire
(1969),
Kent
(1984),
Oxfordshire
(1869),
Surrey
(1971),
East Sussex
(1984),
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South-west England:
Devon
(1979),
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Wales:
Anglesey
(2005),
Meirionnydd
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Pembrokeshire
(2005),
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Information provided by BirdGuides and BBRC |
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Other Names |
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Previously Sterna fuscatus
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| Gaelic: | Welsh: Morwennol Fraith |
| Danish: Sodfarvet terne | Dutch: Bonte stern |
| Finnish: Nokitiira | French: Sterne fuligineuse |
| German: Rußseeschwalbe | Hungarian: Füstös csér |
| Icelandic: Möttulþerna | Irish: |
| Italian: Sterna scura | Norwegian: Sotterne |
| Polish: Rybitwa czarnogrzbieta | Portuguese: Andorinha-do-mar-escura |
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Spanish:
Charrán sombrío
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Swedish: Sottärna |
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For More Information... |
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Books and Monographs:
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| No books written recently | |
| See Also: | |
Find scientific papers on  Google Scholar
or  Scirus by clicking the icon
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Wikipedia entry
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BirdLife species page
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Recent sightings and information from BirdGuides
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Gough, G.A. et al. (1998) Patuxent Bird Identification Infocenter
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