bird cams: terns of the maine coast

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terns of the maine coast

Common, arctic, and roseate terns are the three major species of terns found nesting off the coast of Maine. Learn to tell the difference between them and see some of their beautiful moments captured here.

  • topic: tern

  • location: seal island

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bird cams: terns of the maine coast

Arctic Terns make the longest migration of any creature on earth. This sea bird flies the equivalent of three round trips to the Moon, or more than 1.25 million miles, in its lifetime. Arctic Terns can live up to 34 years. Fiercely defensive birds, Arctic Terns can repel many raptors and other predators such as foxes and cats. Larger Herring Gulls try to steal eggs and hatchlings from the nest.

Most Arctic Terns mate for life, and often return to the same nest each year. The nest on Maine’s Seal Island is a depression in the ground amid bare rocks and vegetation, where both parents shared incubation duties. Tern parents bring larger fish to chicks than they eat themselves. Arctic terns fledge after 21–24 days. While gulls are the largest threats to terns in Maine, food shortages due to overfishing and climate change may also be affecting populations.

More about Arctic Terns is available here.

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location: Seal Island, Maine

best viewing hours: 7:00am - 8:00pm

time zone: Eastern Time

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did you know?

migration / Arctic terns make the longest migration of any bird.

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migration / Some travel from the Arctic to the Antarctic and back again annually, a round trip of over 40,000 miles (70,000 km.)

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trivia / Tern wings, and even whole terns, were a common sight on ladies' hats in the late 1800s; intensive hunting for this purpose contributed to the species' demise.

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migration / Since they go from pole to pole favoring summer in each place, the birds see more sunlight than any other creature on earth.

did you know?

migration / Arctic terns fly the equivalent of three round trips to the Moon in a lifetime. That’s more than 1.25 million miles.

did you know?

migration / One Arctic tern banded as a chick in England in the summer of 1982, reached Melbourne, Australia, by October 1982, a journey of over 14,000 miles one way (22,000 km.) only three months after fledging.

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migration / Arctic Terns do not take a direct route from their nesting place to their winter home, because they use global wind currents to make their travel more energy efficient.

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migration / Most Arctic Terns return to the area where they hatched, and often to the same colony. Yet they sometimes are found far from home, such as a fledgling banded as a chick in Russia that migrated to Greenland. They begin their migration with one of their parents, usually the father.

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feeding / Arctic terns eat mainly fish, and small marine invertebrates, such as krill. In Iceland, they pluck earthworms from farm fields.

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feeding / Parents selectively bring larger fish to their chicks than they eat themselves.

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feeding / Arctic Terns sometimes dip down to the surface of the water to catch prey close to the surface. They also catch insects on the wing.

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feeding / After fledging, juveniles learn to feed themselves (with some assistance from parents) including the difficult maneuver of plunge-diving.

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family life / Arctic Terns sometimes mate for life.

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family life / When molting its wing feathers in winter, Arctic Terns rarely fly, but spend much of their time resting on small blocks of ice at the edge of the pack ice. Its molt happens so quickly that some individuals are nearly flightless for a while.

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family life / Courtship displays begin with a "high flight", where a female will chase the male to a high altitude and then slowly descend. This display is followed by "fish flights" where the male delivers fish to the female. They strut with a raised tail and lowered wings. After this, both birds will usually fly and circle each other.

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family life / An Arctic Tern can live to be 34 years old. It usually does not begin to breed until it is three or four years old.

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family life / One of the most aggressive terns, parents fiercely defend their nest and young, and may attack humans and large predators, striking the top or back of their head, and drawing blood.

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family life / Downy Arctic Tern hatchlings are gray with dark blotches that resemble rock irregularities).

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nesting / Both parents share incubation duties.

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nesting / Young usually hatch after 22–27 days, but can take longer if the parents are often flushed from the nest.

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nesting / Remarkably, Arctic Terns learn to fly in under a month’s time, often only 21–24 days after hatching.

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nesting / Arctic Terns are vulnerable to cats; Herring Gulls will steal eggs and hatchlings.

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range & conservation / Arctic Terns are found in the Arctic, Asia, Europe, North America, Russia, United Kingdom, and Wales.

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range & conservation / Arctic Terns are considered threatened or species of concern in certain states. Their population in New England suffered in the late nineteenth-century because of hunting for the millinery trade. Exploitation continues today in Greenland.
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Common, arctic, and roseate terns are the three major species of terns found nesting off the coast of Maine. Learn to tell the difference between them and see some of their beautiful moments captured here.

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