Animalia > Chordata > Aves > Charadriiformes > Laridae > Sterna > Sterna virgataSterna virgata (Kerguelen Tern)The Kerguelen tern (Sterna virgata) is a tern of the southern hemisphere. This seabird mainly breeds colonially in the Kerguelen Islands, as its common name implies. However, smaller colonies are also found in the Prince Edward Islands (i.e. Prince Edward and Marion) and Crozet Islands. The total number of individuals is from 3,500–6,500 birds, although there is no recent data from the main colony at Kerguelen. These birds do not inhabit Kerguelen proper, instead nesting on islets free of feral cats. During bad weather, they are known to abandon their colonies. There are two subspecies: |
Uniqueness Scale: Similiar (0) Unique (100) Uniqueness & Vulnerability Scale: Similiar & Secure (0) Unique & Vulnerable (100) ED Score: 4.52316 EDGE Score: 2.4021 |
| Adult Weight [1] | 126 grams |  | | Diet [2] | Carnivore (Invertebrates), Piscivore | | Diet - Fish [2] | 50 % | | Diet - Invertibrates [2] | 50 % | | Forages - Ground [2] | 20 % | | Forages - Water Surface [2] | 20 % | | Forages - Underwater [2] | 60 % | | | Clutch Size [3] | 2 | | Incubation [3] | 24 days | | Wing Span [3] | 28 inches (.71 m) |
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| Name |
Location |
IBA Criteria |
Website |
Climate |
Land Use |
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Baie Larose |
French Southern Territories |
A1, A4ii, A4iii |
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Île de l'Est |
French Southern Territories |
A1, A2, A4i, A4ii, A4iii |
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Île de la Possession |
French Southern Territories |
A1, A2, A4i, A4ii, A4iii |
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Île des Pingouins |
French Southern Territories |
A1, A4i, A4ii, A4iii |
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Île Foch, Île Sainte Lanne Gramont and Île Howe |
French Southern Territories |
A1, A2, A4ii, A4iii |
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Îles des Apôtres |
French Southern Territories |
A1, A4ii, A4iii |
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Îles Nuageuses and Île Clugny |
French Southern Territories |
A1, A2, A4ii, A4iii |
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Islands of the Golfe du Morbihan |
French Southern Territories |
A1, A2, A4ii, A4iii |
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Northern part of Péninsule Loranchet |
French Southern Territories |
A1, A2, A4ii, A4iii |
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Péninsule Courbet |
French Southern Territories |
A1, A2, A4i, A4ii, A4iii |
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Péninsule Rallier du Baty |
French Southern Territories |
A1, A2, A4ii, A4iii |
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Prince Edward Islands Special Nature Reserve |
South Africa |
A1, A4i, A4ii, A4iii |
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Attributes / relations provided by ♦ 1Higgins, PJ and Davies, SJJF (Eds). (1996). Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic Birds. Vol. 3, Snipe to Pigeons. Oxford University Press, Melbourne ♦ 2Hamish Wilman, Jonathan Belmaker, Jennifer Simpson, Carolina de la Rosa, Marcelo M. Rivadeneira, and Walter Jetz. 2014. EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95:2027 ♦ 3del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., Sargatal, J., Christie, D.A. & de Juana, E. (eds.). Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. Ecoregions provided by World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF). WildFinder: Online database of species distributions, ver. 01.06 Wildfinder Database |
Species taxanomy provided by GBIF Secretariat (2022). GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/39omei accessed via GBIF.org on 2023-06-13; License: CC BY 4.0
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