White-winged Black Tern

White-winged Black Tern
Scientific Classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Aves Order: Charadriiformes Family: Sternidae Genus: Childonias Species: leucopterusr
Binomial name
Childonias leucopterus

The White-winged Black Tern, or White-winged Tern, Childonias leucopterus, is a small tern.

Adult birds have short dark legs and a short black bill. They have a very dark grey back, with black head, neck and belly with a white rump and light grey tail. The wings, as the name implies, are mainly white. In non-breeding plumage, most of the black is replaced by grey.

Their breeding habitat is freshwater marshes across from southeast Europe to central Asia. They usually nest either on floating material in a marsh or on the ground very close to water, laying 2-4 eggs.

White-winged Black Terns migrate to Africa, southern Asia and Australia.

Unlike the "white" Sterna terns, these birds do not dive for fish, but forage on the wing picking up items at or near the water's surface or catching insects in flight. They mainly eat insects and fish.