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Sooty Tern
Onychoprion fuscatus nubilosus
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Aves Order: Charadriiformes Family: Sternidae Genus: Onychoprion Species: O. fuscatus
Binomial name
Onychoprion fuscatus (Linnaeus, 1766)
Synonyms
Onychoprion fuscata (lapsus) Sterna fuscata Linnaeus, 1766 Sterna fuscata fuscata Linnaeus, 1766 Sterna fuscata nubilosa

The Sooty Tern, Onychoprion fuscatus (formerly Sterna fuscata^[1]), is a seabird of the tern family (Sternidae). It is a bird of the tropical oceans, breeding on islands throughout the equatorial zone.

Underside coloration of O. f. nubilosus

This is a large tern, similar to the Sandwich Tern in size at 33-36 cm in length and with an 82-94 cm wingspan. The wings and deeply forked tail are long, and it has dark grey upperparts and white underparts. It has black legs and bill. 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. It is darker-backed than that species, and has a broader white forehead and no pale neck collar.

The call is a loud piercing ker-wack-a-wack or kvaark.

There are two similar subspecies: O. f. fuscatus of the Caribbean and Atlantic has white underparts, whereas O. f. nubilosus, which breeds from the Red Sea across the Indian Ocean to at least the central Pacific has a greyish tinge to the belly and underwing coverts in fresh plumage. Additional races are recognized by various authors, but their status is very doubtful, as is the assignment of the eastern Pacific birds such as the individuals that breed on Easter Island.

This bird is migratory and dispersive, wintering more widely through the tropical oceans. It has very marine habits compared to most terns. This species is an extremely rare vagrant to western Europe, although a bird was present at Cemlyn Bay, Wales for 11 days in July 2005^{[citation needed]}. It is also not usually found on the Pacific coasts of the Americas due to its pelagic habits. At Baja California, where several nesting locations are offshore, it can be seen more frequently, whereas for example only two individuals have ever been recorded on the coast of El Salvador - one ring recovered in 1972, and a bird photographed on October 10, 2001 at Lake Olomega^{[verification needed]} which was probably blown there by a storm^[2].

Sooty Terns breed in colonies on rocky or coral islands. It nests in a ground scrape or hole and lays one to three eggs. It feeds by picking fish from the surface in marine environments, often in large flocks, and rarely comes to land except to breed, and can stay out to sea (either soaring or floating on the water) for between 3 to 10 years.

On Easter Island, this species and the Grey-backed Tern are collectively known as manutara^[3]. The manutara played an important role in the tangata manu ("birdman") ritual: whomever's 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.

Rookery	Chick	Chicks using a young Black-footed Albatross as a sunshade	A Great Frigatebird has snatched a Sooty Tern chick
Sooty Tern at the nesting site

1. ^ Bridge et al. (2005)
2. ^ Herrera et al. (2006)
3. ^ Literally "tern-bird" in many Eastern Polynesian languages

• BirdLife International (2004). Sterna fuscata. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 11 May 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern
• Bridge, E.S.; Jones, A.W. & Baker, A.J. (2005): A phylogenetic framework for the terns (Sternini) inferred from mtDNA sequences: implications for taxonomy and plumage evolution. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 35(2): 459-469. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2004.12.010 PDF fulltext
• Collinson, M. (2006). Splitting headaches? Recent taxonomic changes affecting the British and Western Palaearctic lists. British Birds 99(6): 306-323.
• Herrera, Néstor; Rivera, Roberto; Ibarra Portillo, Ricardo & Rodríguez, Wilfredo (2006): Nuevos registros para la avifauna de El Salvador. ["New records for the avifauna of El Salvador"]. Boletín de la Sociedad Antioqueña de Ornitología 16(2): 1-19. [Spanish with English abstract] PDF fulltext
• Olsen, Klaus Malling & Larsson, Hans (1995): Terns of Europe and North America. Christopher Helm, London. ISBN 0-7136-4056-1