Roseate Tern
Learn to identify the Roseate Tern by ear. Master the "kree-ah kree-ah" phrase and tell it apart from similar species.
What the Roseate Tern sounds like
The Roseate Tern is a graceful, medium-sized tern distinguished by its slender build, long tail streamers, and a delicate pinkish wash on the underparts during the breeding season. It is among the most elegant of the terns, often flying with buoyant, buoy-flapping wingbeats and agile dives for fish.
“kree-ah kree-ah”
How to tell it apart
Where you'll hear it
Breeds in scattered colonies on the Atlantic coast of North America from Nova Scotia to New York, and locally in the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico. Winters mainly in tropical waters of the Caribbean, northern South America, and western Africa.
Nests on sandy or shingle beaches, low offshore islands, shell rakes, and salt-marsh islands, typically where vegetation is sparse. Forages over inshore and offshore waters, tidal rips, and occasionally nearshore lagoons.
Breeding: May–August. Post-breeding dispersal along coasts August–September. Migrates south September–October. Winters November–March in the tropics; returns north April–May.
Similar species
Common Tern
Stockier build and shorter tail that barely projects beyond wing tips when perched
Arctic Tern
Shorter legs and bill; bill entirely red in adults
Forster’s Tern
Larger head and thicker orange bill with black tip