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
Roseate tern Roseate tern The roseate tern ("Sterna dougallii") is a tern in the family Laridae. The genus name "Sterna" is derived from Old English "stearn", "tern", and the specific "dougallii" refers to Scottish physician and collector Dr Peter McDougall (1777–1814). "Roseate" refers to the bird's pink breast in breeding plumage. English naturalist George Montagu described the roseate tern in 1813. Genetically, it is most closely related to the white-fronted tern ("S. striata"), with their common ancestor a sister lineage to the black-naped tern ("S. sumatrana"). This species has a number of geographical races, differing mainly in bill colour and minor plumage