Ashley and Crippen Photographers, Toronto|Corporate Headshots/Executive Headshots 

Birds

Common Tern

The most widespread and numerous of the North American terns, the Common Tern breeds across much of Canada and northern America and winter in the Southern Hemisphere. It nest on large colonies on sandbars, beaches or islands, laying 2-3 green to buff eggs with brown markings in a scrape on open ground. These are incubated by both male and female for around 24 days, and the young chicks fly around 4 weeks later. The Common Tern takes 3 years to reach its mature plumage. The juvenile is brownish with a white breast and forehead, blackish nape and orange bill, but by the first winter it is gray above, with a black patch on the head, dark bill, dark shoulder and brownish wings. By the 2nd winter it has less brown and more gray on the wings. In the breeding season the adult has a black cap, a red bill with a black tip, the upperparts are gray, and the breast and belly pale. In winter, its forehead is white with a dark patch on the crown and back of the head, and a dark shoulder bar. In flight, its long wings are gray with a darker gray wedge towards the tip of the upper wing. The Common Tern flies slowly over water, diving to catch fish or other aquatic prey.