Fairy tern Fairy tern The fairy tern ("Sternula nereis") is a small tern which is native to the southwestern Pacific. It is listed as "Vulnerable" by the IUCN and the New Zealand subspecies is "Critically Endangered". There are three subspecies: The fairy tern is a small tern with a white body and light bluish-grey wings. The crown and nape is black. It can be distinguished from the little tern in that a black band extends no further than the eye and not as far as the bill. In the breeding plumage both the beak and the legs are yellowish-orange. During the rest
White-fronted tern have also bred on islands in Bass Strait, north of Tasmania. Many of the birds winter in south-eastern Australia, especially juveniles. White-fronted tern The white-fronted tern ("Sterna striata") is the most common tern of New Zealand. It rarely swims, apart from bathing, despite having webbed feet. The species is protected. White-fronted terns feed in large flocks by plunge diving on shoals of smelt and pilchards which have been driven to the surface by larger fish and are easily caught. Like all terns they fly with their heads and bills pointing down to see their prey. Breeding is between October and