Courtesy Preview
This Introductory article that you are viewing is a courtesy preview of the full life history account of this species. The remaining articles (Distribution, Habitat, Behavior, etc.), as well as the Multimedia Galleries and Reference sections of this account are subscriber-only content, and you will need a subscription in order to view the species account in its entirety. Click on the Subscribe tab for more information.
If you are already a current subscriber, you will need to sign in with your login information to access BNA normally.
Habitat
Comments apply to S. m. maxima from Virginia to N. Carolina, but West African S. m. albididorsalis and austral S. m. maxima, from Brazil to Argentina, doubtless similar. Nearly obligate warm water, ocean-coast/marine species at all times of year. Movements strictly coastwise and tied to salt water, except for penetration short distances up creeks and rivers leading from back bays and lagoons. Unlike Sandwich and Elegant terns, Royal Terns tend to forage close inshore, usually in breaking-wave surf zone, at inlets, and on back bays. Nonetheless, sometimes found far offshore (≥80–120 km; New York–N. Carolina, Caribbean), and color-marked breeders in Virginia–N. Carolina routinely forage up to 65 km from breeding colonies (Buckley and Buckley 1972a, McGinnis and Emslie 2001).
Buckley, P. A. and Francine G. Buckley. 2002. Royal Tern (Thalasseus maximus), The Birds of North America Online (A. Poole, Ed.). Ithaca: Cornell Lab of Ornithology; Retrieved from the Birds of North America Online: http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/bna/species/700
