Least Tern with fish. Photograph by Beth Howard, Mass Audubon.
Visit any Atlantic coast beach from Maine to Florida during the mild days of summer and you may hear the iconic “zwreep” of a Least Tern (Sternula antillarum). This slight-bodied tern, with a pale yellow, dark-tipped bill and a tell-tale black loral stripe, is smaller and less conspicuous than any of its fellow Atlantic tern species. Although they lack the gregarious call of Common Terns (Sterna hirundo) and the elegant, forked tail of Roseate Terns (Sterna dougallii), Least Terns continue to capture the interest of birders, ornithologists, and wildlife managers.
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