Arctic Tern

Artic terns (Sterna paradisaea) are our most punctual spring visitors. Their arrival at the rookery near my house on Kodiak Island in Alaska occurs somewhere between May 11th and May 13th each year. They can’t afford to be casual, because they are on a tight schedule. These beautiful, little birds that are distant cousins of gulls have one of the longest migrations of any animal. How far they travel is still not certain, but they fly at least from Alaska to Antarctica and back in a year, a distance of 25,000 miles (40,234 km). Only the sooty shearwater has a migration as long, or perhaps even longer, as an arctic tern’s, since they travel between New Zealand and the North Pacific.

Another interesting fact about Arctic terns is that since they spend summers in Alaska during our long days and then fly to Antarctica for the summer there with the corresponding long days, this species spends more hours in daylight than any other animal.

Arctic terns are slim and graceful. They have the largest breeding range of any water bird in Alaska, nesting from Point Barrow in the north to the Southeastern Panhandle. An adult Arctic tern is gray to white in color. Its pointed beak and its legs are red, and it has a black patch over the head and forehead. It has webbed feet, long, gray wings, and a forked tail. Because of their long wings and forked tails, terns are very agile and can make sudden turns and even…