Adult Bridled Tern

Sightings
This adult Bridled Tern was standing on the rocky coast of a small island which we passed en route from the Blue Waters Inn to Little Tobago. We saw some twenty five Bridled Terns from the boat.

Species
Bridled Tern Onychoprion anaethetus is migratory and dispersive, wintering more widely through the tropical oceans. It has markedly marine habits compared to most terns. There are four recognised subspecies of which O. a. melanopterus breeds in Mexico, the Caribbean and west Africa.

Status and Distribution
It is a species of least concern with an unknown population and a huge pan tropical breeding range. It is an uncommon breeding visitor to islands offshore of Tobago; it is occasionally seen off the north east coast of Trinidad.

References
BirdLife; Wikipedia; World Bird Names; Kenefick, M., Restall, R., and Hayes, F. (2015) Birds of Trinidad and Tobago, Bloomsbury Publishing, page 130

Photograph
Taken from a moving boat at 1/1600th of a second at f5.6 and ISO 1000.