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Friends of Midway Atoll

Friends of Midway Atoll

Preserving, protecting, and restoring the biological diversity and historic resources of Midway Atollal Wildlife Refuge

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Home/Explore & Learn/Plants & Wildlife/Birds/Sooty Tern

Sooty Tern

Hawaiian name: ‘Ewa ‘ewa

Scientific name: Onychoprion fuscatus

Sooty Tern Colony
Photo credit: Daniel Clark/USFWS
  • Life Span > 20 years
  • Wingspan: 86-94 cm (34-37 in)
  • Breeding Ecology:
    • Pantropical breeding range
    • 1 egg/clutch, 1 clutch/year (or more frequent)
    • May replace eggs if lost/destroyed
    • Ground nester
  • Nests on Eastern and Spit Islands
  • Easily disturbed by human activity; repeated disturbance may result in permanent abandonment.
  • This is a species that lives on the wing—known for its ability to stay airborne for years at a time between fledging and first breeding, never coming to land during the nonbreeding season, and never seen resting on the water.
  • The Sooty Tern once bred on practically every island group in the Tropics but is now gone from many sites due to habitat alteration and predation by introduced predators. Humans still take eggs for food in many places today. Still one of the most abundant birds in the Tropics, with a worldwide population of 60 to 80 million birds.

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Friends of Midway Atoll

17 Katrina Lane
San Anselmo, CA 94960

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