The Sandwich Tern (Thalasseus sandvicensis) is a pale, medium-sized sea tern recognised by its black bill with a yellow tip and a shaggy black crest at the back of the head. Measuring roughly 37–43 cm long with a wingspan of 85–97 cm, it has a pale grey upperside and white underside; in breeding plumage the crown is black and ends in a short, upstanding nape tuft, though the forehead fades to white later in summer. The slender black bill tipped with yellow is one of the species' most reliable field marks, and the legs are black. In flight it looks light and buoyant, with relatively shallow wingbeats, and its call is a hoarse, raspy, two-syllable "kirrik" or "kerr-ik", often heard as birds fly in toward the colony, which otherwise buzzes with a lively chorus of similar calls.
In Sweden the Sandwich Tern breeds mainly along the south coast, with its stronghold in Skåne and Blekinge and only occasional colonies elsewhere; the national population is small and fluctuates between years depending on where colonies form, numbering roughly a few hundred to around a thousand pairs, classified as Least Concern. It nests in dense colonies on sandy or gravelly islands and spits, frequently alongside other terns or Black-headed Gulls, whose shared vigilance offers protection from predators; the nest is a simple scrape in the sand, and the female lays 1–2 eggs incubated for about three weeks, with the young later gathering into larger groups within the colony. Its diet is almost entirely small fish, especially sandeel and sprat, caught by hovering over shallow water before plunge-diving toward shoals near the surface. The species is seen at its best from April to September around the shallow bays and coastal islands of the south coast, near its breeding colonies in Skåne and Blekinge, and it winters along the coasts of West Africa.
Read about this species in Swedish →