The offering of fish by the male to the female is part of the courtship display.
At a glance
Sounds
Range map
Range map
Aggregated occurance data is sourced from 14 different actively-updating datasets including eBird Australia, iNaturalist Australia, BirdLife Australia, and multiple state-based bird surveys through Atlas of Living Australia.
Species notes
Overview
Tiny, delicate-looking tern. Breeding plumage has black cap with white forehead chevron, black-tipped yellow bill. Readily identified by tiny size, though wintering adults can be confusingly similar in patterning to Common Tern; look out for black stripes extending from the shoulder to the wingtip. Often overlooked unless noisy and mobbing you at a colony.
Behavior
Breeds colonially on sandy and stony substrates, at times with other terns, from beaches to riverbanks and lakeshores. Flies with hurried deep wingbeats; splash dives in water to catch small fish.
Gallery