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Black Tern | Chlidonias niger
Zwarte stern | Fumarel Común
In Europe the Black Tern is a freshwater marsh tern, but in the region it behaves like a seabird: the wintering birds fish in the cold, productive waters of the Benguela Current off Namibia and the west coast of South Africa. Around Walvis Bay thousands of birds may gather.
Voice
A short, high, sharp kyik or keek, and a weak keh-keh. Usually silent on the wintering grounds except in groups at roosts.
Recording: Ricardo Hevia — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · converted to mono · xeno-canto
Identification
About 23 cm, compact, with a short, fine black bill and a short, slightly forked tail. In non-breeding plumage, as almost always seen here, the forehead is white and the crown and hindneck blackish, forming a cap that extends below the eye, and the bird has a characteristic dark patch on the breast sides in front of the wing. The upperparts, rump and tail are fairly dark, uniform grey, the underparts white. The underwing is pale grey. In breeding plumage, seen here only rarely and incompletely in March and April, the head and body are sooty black with white undertail coverts and the rest of the bird is dark slate grey. Juveniles have a brownish scaled mantle and a dark carpal bar.
Confusion species
White-Winged Tern Chlidonias leucopterus in non-breeding plumage has a white rump, a paler back, no breast patch and a detached dark ear patch instead of a cap. Whiskered Tern Chlidonias hybrida is larger and paler, with a longer bill, and also lacks a breast patch. Small terns of the genus Sternula, such as Damara Tern Sternula balaenarum, are paler, with longer bills, and plunge into the water rather than dipping from the surface.
Habitat
Mainly at sea, from inshore waters to tens of kilometres offshore over cold, productive upwelling water. It roosts in groups on beaches, sandbanks and in coastal lagoons and salt works. It hunts with a buoyant, agile flight and dips small fish and crustaceans from the surface without diving deeply. Rare inland, occasionally on dams after storms.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of southern Africa.
Range and movements
Most numerous along the coast of Namibia, especially around Walvis Bay and Swakopmund, and along the west coast of South Africa to beyond the Cape of Good Hope; also off Angola. Scarce on the south coast and rare on the east coast, only recently recorded in Mozambique. A vagrant inland. It breeds in Europe, western Asia and North America; the eastern birds winter mainly off West Africa, the American birds off north-western South America.
- Resident
- Passage (Mar–Apr, Oct–Nov)
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
Best in the lagoon and salt works at Walvis Bay and near Swakopmund between November and March, where Black Terns rest in groups among other terns. From the shore or on a pelagic trip off Cape Town they can also be seen over the open sea, often dancing low over the waves. Look for the dark breast patch as the first feature.
Conservation status
Not threatened, but in parts of Europe and North America the species has declined sharply as a breeding bird through the loss of wetlands. On the wintering grounds it depends on the productivity of the Benguela Current.
Scientific name
Chlidonias niger | (Linnaeus, 1758)
Linnaeus described the species in 1758 as Sterna nigra; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Chlidonias was introduced in 1822 by Rafinesque. Chlidonias is from Ancient Greek khelidonios 'swallow-like', from khelidon 'swallow'. niger is Latin for 'shining black'. The specimen the first description was based on came from near Uppsala, Sweden.