White-winged Tern: Hunting technique

Posted by BESG on 27 August 08, Wednesday
Contributed by Dr Jonathan Cheah Weng Kwong

An earlier post gives the non-breeding, breeding (above) and transitional plumages of the White-winged Tern (Chlidonias leucopterus), also known as White-winged Black Tern documented by Dr Jonathan Cheah Weng Kwong at Kranji.

This is a migratory bird that moves down the Malay Peninsula to Singapore and beyond to as far as Australia to winter.

This tern is a generalist feeder, taking aquatic as well as terrestrial insects, small fish and tadpoles. It has a number of feeding techniques: aerial feeding, hawking flying insects, hover-dipping and contact-dipping. However, it does not plunge-dive.

The images provided (above, below) show the bird indulging in contact-dipping. Flying slowly and just above the water, it looks for a fish swimming just below the water surface. Once spotted, the bird turns it head downwards and sideways and plunges its bill into the water to snatch the fish. It simply continues with its flight with the fish securely clamped in its bill.

Reference:
Gochfeld, M. & Burger, J. (1996). Family Sternidae (Terns). Pp. 624-667 in: del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A. & Sargatal, J. eds. Handbook of the birds of the world. Vol. 3. Hoatzin to Auks. Barcelona: Lynx Editions.

Related Posts:

Little Tern hunting Lee Tiah Khee's dramatic images of a Little Tern... Hunting technique of Black-shouldered Kite Black-shouldered Kite (Elanus caeruleus) usually hunts from a perch.... White-winged Tern: Breeding, non-breeding and transitional plumages Jonathan has been monitoring the White-winged Tern (Chlidonias leucopterus) at... Little Tern taking a bath Dr Johathan Cheah Weng Kwong was tern-watching in August... Black-throated Sunbird’s hunting technique This composite image of a female Black-throated Sunbird (Aethopyga... Little Tern feeding fledgling in the water In August 2007 Dr Johathan Cheah Weng Kwong was at... Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

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Categories: Feeding strategy

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