Field Guide
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Arctic Tern
Sterna paradisaea
Not yet photographed by the community
Makes the longest migration of any bird; blood-red bill.
Species Profile
Amber List (UK); population of breeding birds declining due to food availability and climate change
- Lifespan
- 20–30 years in the wild, with some individuals recorded living over 34 years
- Size & Weight
- 32–35 cm long, wingspan 75–85 cm; 85–105 g
- Habitat
- Coastal and inland breeding sites including islands, shingle beaches, moorland, and Arctic tundra; open ocean during migration and winter.
- UK Distribution
- Summer breeder (May–August) across northern and western Scotland, northern England, Wales, and Ireland. Rare vagrant to southern England during migration periods. Absent in winter.
- Diet
- Primarily small fish caught by aerial diving, including sand eels, sprats, and small herrings; occasionally takes small crustaceans.
- Prey
- Sand eels, sprats, small herrings, capelin, and occasionally small crustaceans
- Predators
- Great Black-backed Gulls, Herring Gulls, corvids (crows and ravens), and occasionally Merlins; eggs and chicks also predated by foxes and rats
- Mating Season
- May to August
- Breeding
- Typically 1–2 eggs per clutch; incubation period 21–24 days; single brood per year; chicks fledge at 28–35 days old
- Behaviour
- Highly migratory, undertaking the longest migration of any bird species, traveling roughly 70,000 km annually between Arctic and Antarctic regions. Highly vocal and territorial during breeding season; pairs perform synchronized courtship displays. Colonial breeder, often nesting in loose groups.
- •Arctic Terns experience two summers annually, migrating from Arctic to Antarctic breeding grounds and back, seeing more daylight than any other animal
- •The round-trip migration covers approximately 70,900 km—equivalent to nearly twice the circumference of Earth
- •UK populations declined by around 25% between 1994 and 2014, primarily due to reduced food availability from climate change and overfishing
- •They possess exceptional vision adapted for spotting small fish while diving from heights of up to 10 metres
- •Arctic Terns are fiercely protective of their breeding sites and will aggressively dive-bomb and strike intruders, including humans
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