Black-bellied Tern Sterna acuticauda Scientific name definitions
- EN Endangered
- Names (25)
- Monotypic
Text last updated March 3, 2017
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Species names in all available languages
Language | Common name |
---|---|
Bulgarian | Чернокорема рибарка |
Catalan | xatrac ventrenegre |
Chinese (SIM) | 黑腹燕鸥 |
Czech | rybák černobřichý |
Danish | Sortbuget Terne |
Dutch | Zwartbuikstern |
English | Black-bellied Tern |
English (United States) | Black-bellied Tern |
Finnish | mustavatsatiira |
French | Sterne à ventre noir |
French (France) | Sterne à ventre noir |
German | Schwarzbauch-Seeschwalbe |
Japanese | インドアジサシ |
Malayalam | കരിവയറൻ ആള |
Norwegian | svartbukterne |
Polish | rybitwa czarnobrzucha |
Russian | Чернобрюхая крачка |
Serbian | Crnotrba čigra |
Slovak | rybár čiernobruchý |
Spanish | Charrán Ventrinegro |
Spanish (Spain) | Charrán ventrinegro |
Swedish | svartbukig tärna |
Thai | นกนางนวลแกลบท้องดำ |
Turkish | Kara Karınlı Sumru |
Ukrainian | Крячок чорночеревий |
Sterna acuticauda Gray, 1831
Definitions
- STERNA
- sterna
- acuticauda
The Key to Scientific Names
Legend Overview
Field Identification
32–35 cm. Typical tern from above, with black cap and grey back and wings, latter long and pointed; throat white, breast pale grey shading into deep black and brownish-black belly and undertail-coverts; dark underparts contrast with white underwing, latter with darker band across secondaries; bill yellow-orange; legs reddish orange. Non-breeding adult has white forecrown streaked black, black band behind eye, whitish underparts mottled black on belly, and black tip to bill. Juvenile has red at base of mandible and blackish feet; can be confused with “portlandica” plumage of S. hirundo, but darker.
Systematics History
Subspecies
Distribution
Pakistan (R Indus) and along major river systems of India E to C Bangladesh and Assam Valley. Now very rare in S China (W Yunnan), Nepal and Myanmar, and probably extinct in NW Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and S Vietnam (1).
Habitat
Inland lakes and rivers , preferring broad, barren, featureless flats, sand spits and sandy islands in rivers. Forages along rivers and lakes, and over paddies, ditches and village ponds. Occurs up to 700 m in Nepal.
Movement
Diet and Foraging
Sounds and Vocal Behavior
Gives short, full, dog-like barks, e.g. “nyap” or “nyark”, which vary slightly in pitch and are only heard irregularly, but sometimes in short series at rate of 3–4 notes/second.
Breeding
Feb –May. Early nests sometimes flooded. Often breeds with S. aurantia, skimmers and pratincoles, but not colonial; nests very widely spaced, often more than 1 km and essentially solitary. Shallow, unlined scrape in bare sand, sometimes near a small object; usually more than 200 m from water’s edge. Clutch three eggs, sometimes two, rarely four; incubation and fledging not studied, and reports of 15–16 days and eight weeks, respectively, certainly erroneous; adults shade eggs and chicks, and also sprinkle water from belly feathers; adults mob intruding birds and predators. Productivity: one report of 0·7 young/nest.
Conservation Status
ENDANGERED. The total population is believed to number fewer than 10,000 individuals and is in continuing decline. Now very rare, possibly extinct, in Thailand: sightings of single individuals at Krabi and Bung Boraphet, Thailand, in April 2003 and April 2004 respectively are noteworthy (2) ; disappearing from Laos and Cambodia; no more than 25 pairs in Myanmar. Said to be common resident in Nepal, and fairly common in N & C India , but few recent sightings (3, 4). Very rare in Bangladesh, where an intensive and extensive search of two major rivers between Dec 2011 and Apr 2012 failed to find any (5), but the species was discovered breeding again in May 2016, the first record since 2000 (6). Destruction of breeding habitats is a major threat; eggs widely collected for food; and nests subject to flooding. Wide nest dispersion presumably an adaptation to heavy pressure from terrestrial predators, including man.