Royal Tern

Description: 18-21" Crow-sized, large tern with long, heavy, yellow-orange to orange-red bill, black cap, pale gray back and wings, white forehead, tail forked, similar Caspian Tern has blood red bill	Habitat: Saltwater habitats such as coastal areas, beaches, bays, offshore areas. Rare inland. Nest in dense colonies. Feeds by hovering, then diving below water's surface.
Nesting: 1 buff- spotted olive egg laid in a depression in sand or cup of dead grass, located on sandy or rocky island	Range: breeds along coast from Maryland to Texas, wandering further south in summer, winters from North Carolina Gulf Coast, and California southward.
Voice: harsh kee-rare like Caspian Tern but higher pitched	Diet: aquatic invertebrates, Hovers before diving. Including especially crabs, also squid, shrimp. Skims to drink and after eating crab. Occasionally pirates fish, especially from Brown Pelican.

Notes: Large, dense colonies up to 10,000 nests, often associates with other terns, especially Sandwich; Laughing Gull associates with Royals all year, eats eggs but ignored by terns and not viewed as predator! Colony often destroyed by high tides and storms; commonly re-nest or reestablish colony, en masse, elsewhere.

When present in Oklahoma: seen during summer/winter migration, not native to Oklahoma