Arctic Tern

Name: Arctic Tern

Scientific name: Sterna paradisea

Category: Birds

Nature Stars: 60

What are nature stars?

About: A medium-sized tern, about 35cm long. Silvery-grey above and white below, with a black cap. Tiny red legs and a blood red bill without any black at the tip. They return to this country in April leaving in October.

How to identify: Common Tern and Arctic Tern can be very difficult to tell apart. The Arctic Tern is greyer below, has very long tail streamers and a shorter bill, blood red with no black on the tip.

Where: A summer visitor, nesting on islands around the north of England and Scotland. Can be seen around most of our coasts and on large lakes and reservoirs during migration.

Natural Superpowers

• Predator: 70
• Agility: 80
• Rarity: 40
• Cute factor: 50
• Traveller: 100

Fantastic fact: Arctic Terns have one of the longest migrations of any bird, breeding in largest numbers up around the Arctic and travelling all the way to the Antarctic to spend the winter.

Photograph credit: Photo credit tbc