Medium-sized, very pale gray tern with a long forked tail. Bill color varies from entirely black to having orange at the base depending on time of year. Note black crown and rounded head.
The long, forked tail extends beyond the wingtips when resting. The pale rose color on the belly for which it is named is often not visible.
Nests and roosts on rocky islands in colonies with other terns.
Juveniles have a scaly looking back and a smudgy crown and forehead.
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A slender, delicately built seabird with a straight, thin, pointed bill, long, pointed wings, and a very long, forked tail that extends beyond the wingtips when the bird is at rest. Juveniles have shorter tails than adults.
Larger than a Least Tern, smaller than a Sandwich or Royal Tern. Similar in size to Common Tern but with a longer tail.
between robin and crowOrnithologists recognize three subspecies: dougallii of the Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea, the smaller gracilis of most of the Indian Ocean, and korustes of the Indian Ocean around southern India and Sri Lanka, in which the bill is shorter and upperparts darker gray than in gracilis. Within the dougallii subspecies, individuals that breed in the Northeast have black bills that become red at the base through June and July. In Caribbean birds, the bill is one-third to one-half orange-red for most of the year, becoming mostly orange-red during June and July.
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