The Little Tern (Sternula albifrons) is the smallest of Sweden's terns, a neat, fast bird with a yellow, black-tipped bill and a gleaming white forehead, often seen hovering on fluttering wings over shallow water before plunge-diving for small fish. It measures 22–28 cm with a wingspan of 47–55 cm and a weight of 47–63 grams; the yellow, black-tipped bill and white forehead in breeding plumage are diagnostic, a combination shown by no other Swedish tern, while the crown is black, the upperside pale grey and the underside white. The call is a sharp, grating, loud "kick-kick" or "krii-ick", often heard from birds hunting or defending the colony.
The species is the smallest member of the gull family and breeds along southern Swedish coasts, concentrated on Öland, Gotland and the south and west coasts, with a small population of roughly 300–600 pairs; it arrives in May and leaves in August–September to winter in Africa. It is red-listed as vulnerable in Sweden because it nests in small colonies directly on open sand or fine gravel, often close to the waterline, laying a shallow scrape of normally 2–3 eggs incubated by both parents. The eggs and newly hatched young are well camouflaged but highly exposed, with nests threatened by disturbance from beachgoers and loose dogs, by high water and by predators, making fencing and area protection during the breeding season important conservation measures. It feeds on small fish along with crustaceans and insects, hunting by hovering stationary on rapidly fluttering wings before diving straight into the shallows, often fishing close to shore and in very shallow lagoons.
Read about this species in Swedish →