Damara tern  (Sterna balaenarum)

Description

A typical small tern in appearance, the Damara tern has a white body, pale grey back, yellowish to dusky legs and a black beak. In breeding plumage the species has a black cap, which extends onto the nape (back of the neck), but outside of the breeding season this becomes more mottled grey-black, and the forehead turns white. Juveniles have a buff crown, a dark band through the eye and across the nape, grey flight feathers, and brown wing-coverts with dark edging (2) (4). Although quite similar in appearance to the little tern, Sterna albifrons, the Damara tern can be distinguished by a longer, slightly decurved beak, which does not turn yellow during the breeding season, as well as a paler grey back, and a stockier body shape (4) (5). The call of the Damara tern is a high-pitched tsit-tsit or a harsh, rapid kid-ick (4).

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