Local Terns

Terns are regularly seen about Stewart Island, particularly the White Fronteds. These nest at various locations around the coast, with a moderate colony on a small islet on

White Fronted Tern

the south side of Ulva. We will see them fishing, generally where tidal turbulance stirs up the feed for small fish or roosting on rocks in a handy location. They will often have Red Billed Gulls feeding along side.

Black Fronted Terns

Black Fronted Tern

About this time each year the flocks are joined by a somewhat smaller tern, much darker grey on the upper wing and with a dark mottled head. It didn’t really fit anything I was familiar with, although in my defence my sightings were generally brief and usually at a distance. However yesterday I got lucky with a reasonable photo that convinced me that we had a Juvenile Black Fronted Tern. It appears that these young birds visit here in mid to late summer, although I haven’t heard of adults being sighted around Stewart Island. The Adult birds have a full black cap, but without the white bar between beak and cap that identifies the White Fronted Tern

Antarctic Tern

Antarctic tern

One I’ve never seen around the north of Stewart Island is the Antarctic Tern. We used to see them occasionally around Port Pegasus in the south of the Island, and there is a small nesting colony to the west of South Cape.

These have a full black cap, but are much whiter in wing colour than the Black Fronted Tern.