Little Tern

Little Tern

The Little Tern (Sterna albifrons ) is a weight of 45 g and a length of 20 cm, the smallest and the rarest in Central Europe Tern.

Their habitat is sandy beaches and shallow gravel banks of the great rivers. In the past, their range extended to Lake Constance. Today, living in the entire Wadden Sea area for about 650 breeding pairs with decreasing tendency.

The nest consists of up to three eggs, which are deposited in sandy hollows. After 21 days incubation period hatch the young birds leave as precocial within 24 hours the nest. Your ability to fly they reach after 3 weeks, but for weeks fed by the parent birds until they can fish in a dive itself.

Their feeding grounds have little terns in the shallow waters off the coast; but they also look in slow-flowing rivers. The diet consists of small fish, crustaceans, mussels, snails and occasionally from insects.

Risk & protection status

In Germany, the species is classified as critically endangered ( Red List category 1 ). It is listed on Appendix I of the EU Birds Directive ( 79/409/EEC RL ).