Bird 122 – White Tern

Today we’re going to look at one of the most delightful birds, the White Tern (Gygis alba)

These are a small, elegant Tern, pure white with glossy black eyes. They’re sometimes understandably known as Angel Terns and, to be fair, they’re basically the Doves of the ocean.

For my money they’re one of the most graceful and peaceful looking birds.

But, the White Tern has a peculiar quirk. As you may know, when Terns nest, they gather into large colonies and lay their eggs on the ground. But the White Tern didn’t want none of that. Seems like a risky enterprise. One second you’re putting your egg on the ground, the next second some yahoo in a four wheel drive is scrambling it. No thank you. 

So the Tern said, well, I’ll do what all the other birds do and put it in a tree. Unfortunately the White Tern never really looked into what other birds do and somewhere along the way it missed the memo about “making” nests and instead just literally lays its egg straight onto a bare branch.

It finds a little divot or something on the branch and just balances the egg there. Job done. 

And when the chick hatches it just clings on for dear life until it’s old enough to fly.

Now, you’re probably thinking this seems like a dumb way to go about raising your young. Surely a stiff breeze would result in many eggs and chicks being lost. And you would be right. Every year babies are frequently lost. Babies like this little chap named Mung-bean, who fell from his nest (branch) on Lord Howe Island after a lazy zephyr passed through. Now he’s being raised on a piece of bark by some human parents.

Somehow though, the White Tern has been quite the successful bird. They’re rather common and can be found from Chile and Mexico all the way through the Pacific and Indian Oceans to Madagascar, so I guess they must be doing something right.

Ah, you beautiful little irresponsible parents, I love you guys.

29/03/2020