Tern sea terns have light grey or white body plumage as adults, with a black cap to the head. The legs and bill are various combinations of red, orange, yellow, or black depending on species. The pale plumage is conspicuous from a distance at sea, and may attract other birds to a good feeding area for these fish-eating species. When seen against the sky, the white underparts also help to hide the hunting bird from its intended prey. The Inca tern has mainly dark plumage, and three species that mainly eat insects, the black tern, white-winged tern, and black-bellied tern, have
Sooty tern as "manutara". The "manutara" played an important role in the "tangata manu" ("birdman") ritual: whichever "hopu" (champion) could retrieve the first "manutara" egg from Motu Nui islet would become that year's "tangata manu"; his clan would receive prime access to resources, especially seabird eggs. Sooty tern The sooty tern ("Onychoprion fuscatus") is a seabird in the family Laridae. It is a bird of the tropical oceans, breeding on islands throughout the equatorial zone. The sooty tern was described by Linnaeus in 1766 as "Sterna fuscata", bearing this name for many years until the genus "Sterna" was split up. It is