Some of my favorite birds of the summer are the terns. Go down to Duxbury Beach and look around for the slender, white birds diving often near the bridge. Terns eat fish and can be found where the fish are. Although around here we see them by the shore, terns can be found near lakes and rivers all over the continent. Terns are in the same family as the gulls and beginning birders sometimes confuse the two species. We have several kinds of terns here in Duxbury: Common Terns, Arctic Terns, Roseate Terns, etc.  Sometimes we will see a Sandwich Tern or a Least Tern off the beach. Common terns are medium-sized birds, all white underneath with a black cap, gray back, black wing tips and a bright red and black or all black bill.  They may resemble gulls at a quick glance but their behavior is quite different. Terns are noisy, quick and nervous; darting here and there over the waves and then diving for their dinner. Their diving will distinguish them from most gulls. Sometimes when we are out in our sailboat, the terns will dive quite close to our boat. Their harsh call belies their delicate appearance.  When they are loafing on the beach they often sit facing the wind, sometimes with their heads tucked under their wings.

In the early spring, the male tern arrives first to select the nest site and the female shows up a few days later. Terns make their nests in the sand, scraping out a shallow depression and maybe lining it with some vegetation.  The female usually lays three eggs of a buffy yellow with darker blotches. The pair takes turns incubating the eggs. On a hot day the adults may soak themselves at the water edge and then return to cool the eggs by sitting on them.  After hatching, adult terns are solicitous parents, feeding the young and teaching them to fish.  Some terns have been known to feed young even after the southward migration.

The Arctic Tern appears similar to the Common Tern but with a longer red bill and feet. This bird has it all over every other living creature on earth for another reason. It travels a migratory route that puts any other to shame.  Each year, the Arctic Tern flies from the Arctic to Antarctica and back again.  I checked this on Wikipedia where I found this bit of information: “One example of this bird’s remarkable long-distance flying abilities involves an Arctic Tern ringed (banded) as an unfledged chick on the Farne Islands, Northumberland, UK, in the northern summer of 1982, which reached Melbourne, Australia, in October 1982, a sea journey of over 22,000 km (14,000 mi) in just three months from fledging.”  One point the article failed to mention is that the bird did this alone almost immediately after hatching!  Seriously? I really do not think I could find my way to Worcester without my GPS and a lot of road signs.  If this piece of information doesn’t impress you, nothing will.

You only need to look to see other terns -- Least, Sandwich, Roseate, etc.  -- on our beach. Don’t delay though. The terns will migrate south by the end of summer.