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Gull-billed Tern

(Sterna nilotica)
Alternative name: "Long-legged Tern"
Size: 36-42 cm

Habitat
(for details refer to a field guide)

Gull-billed Terns are most common along the coastline of QLD, in the Murray-Darling Basin and in north-eastern SA. Apart from these locations their range is patchy; some may be found in the central NT and in western WA. After substantial inland rainfall they can disperse into all areas of the Australian continent. They are rare visitors to the Bass Strait and Tasmania as well.

Gull-billed Terns can be found above the sea just offshore, but also in tidal flats and inland, in the shallows of freshwater lakes, including ephemeral lakes and temporary wetlands.

Sightings

A Gull-billed Tern was first spotted by us at Dangars Lagoon near Uralla, NSW, in November 2006.

Also spotted in the wetlands of Capricorn Resort, Yeppoon, in July 2009. Special access to the wetlands kindly granted by the owners of Capricorn Resort is most gratefully acknowledged.

Subsequently, a small number of birds was spotted by us at Lake Goran, an ephemeral lake about 30 km south of Gunnedah, NSW, in April 2011.

In June 2011 also seen in a salt marsh in the estuary of the Manning River near Old Bar, NSW.

Photos

Lateral view of a Gull-billed Tern in breeding plumage

Gull-billed Tern in breeding plumage seen in flight

Gull-billed Tern in non-breeding plumage seen in flight

Gull-billed Tern in non-breeding plumage standing in shallow water; in this view the eye mask of the non-breeding plumage is clearly visible

Here the same bird is seen digging something out of the mud

Food

As opposed to other terns, Gull-billed Terns feed on crabs, other crustaceans as well as grasshoppers, dragon flies and other insects that they take from sand dunes, sand bars, dry mud flats and edges of inland lakes.

Gull-billed Tern taking a mud crab it has scabbed from a Bar-tailed Godwit (slightly unsharp)

Here the prey can be seen more clearly