Roseate tern and the bill black. Juvenile roseate terns have a scaly appearance like juvenile Sandwich Terns, but a fuller black cap than that species. This species breeds in colonies on coasts and islands, at times with other seabirds. In Australian territory, it has been recorded nesting alongside the black-naped tern ("S. sumatrana"), lesser crested tern ("Thalasseus bengalensis"), crested tern ("T. bergii"), fairy tern ("Sternula nereis"), bridled tern ("Onychoprion anaethetus") and silver gull ("Chroicocephalus novaehollandiae"). It nests in a ground scrape, often in a hollow or under dense vegetation, and lays one or two (rarely three) eggs. It is less defensive of
Sooty tern birds from Indonesia to the Americas: This is a large tern, similar in size to the Sandwich tern ("Thalasseus sandvicensis") at long with an wingspan. The wings and deeply forked tail are long, and it has dark black upperparts and white underparts. It has black legs and bill. The average life span is 32 years. Juvenile Sooty Terns are scaly grey above and below. The Sooty Tern is unlikely to be confused with any tern apart from the similarly dark-backed but smaller bridled tern ("O. anaethetus"). It is darker-backed than that species, and has a broader white forehead and no