Spectacled tern Spectacled tern The spectacled tern ("Onychoprion lunatus"), also known as the grey-backed tern, is a seabird in the family Laridae. A close relative of the bridled and sooty terns (with which it is sometimes confused), the spectacled tern is less common than the other members of its genus and it has been studied less. The three species, along with the Aleutian tern were recently split into a new genus "Onychoprion" from "Sterna" (Bridge "et al.", 2005). They resemble the sooty tern but with a grey back instead of a black one. Their breast and underparts are white, and they have
Royal tern or it may cause it to drown if it is caught under water. Animals such as foxes, raccoon, and large gulls prey on tern chicks and tern eggs. Tern nesting sites can also be affected by the tides; if a tern colony has nested too close to the high tide mark a spring tide would flood the nesting site and kill the chicks and make unhatched eggs infertile. The royal tern is one of the species addressed in the "Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Water Birds" (AEWA). The AEWA covers 255 species that depend on wetlands for part