A Photo story of River Tern

A Photo story of River Tern
The Indian River Tern or just River Tern (Sterna aurantia) is a bird in the tern family . It is a resident breeder along inland rivers on Indian Subcontinent and further to Myanmar to Thailand, where it is uncommon. Unlike most Sterna terns, it is almost exclusively found on freshwater bodies

Rivertern on a rock beside river

 This is a medium-sized tern, 38–43 cm long with dark grey upperparts, white underparts, a forked tail with long flexible streamers, and long pointed wings. The bill is yellow and the legs red. It has a black cap in breeding plumage. In the winter the cap is greyish white, flecked and streaked with black, there is a dark mask through the eye, and the tip of the bill becomes dusky.

Rivertern couple

Rivertern Male feeding female to impress her

 As with other Sterna terns, the River Tern feeds by plunge-diving for fish, crustaceans, tadpoles and aquatic insects. It was amazing to see them dive in the waters and catch the fish for its mate, then feedint it in flight.

River Couple Mating


 Male feeds the female with couple of fishes it gets from plunge-diving from the river, before it could impress and get to the act.


Rivertern couple cought in the act :) mating on river bank rock



Rivertern male spreading its wings




Rivertern Female incubating its eggs

 Riverterns breed from March to May in colonies in less accessible areas such as sandbanks in rivers. It nests in a ground scrape, often on bare rock or sand, and lays three greenish-grey to buff eggs, which are blotched and streaked with brown.

Rivertern chick, 15 days old trying to spread wings

 The sexes are similar but juveniles have a brown head, brown-marked grey upperparts, grey breast sides and white underparts. The bill is yellowish with a dark tip


Rivertern month old chick, spreading its young wings



Rivertern nests in a ground scrape, often on bare rock or sand, females usually will be around the eggs and the chick all the time, untill chicks grow and mature enough to feed themselves, while the male helps her getting feed all the time. Mother has typically tough time during the chicks are very young to keep them protected from the predators species like eagle, crow etc.

By Manjunath Krishnamurthy