Arctic Tern

The world's most travelled bird

The Arctic tern (Sterna Paradisaea) is a seasoned traveller. It breeds in the Northern Hemisphere, mostly within the Arctic Circle, but flies to spend the northern winter in the Southern Hemisphere, mostly in the Antarctic ice-packs.

This journey to the Antarctic enables the Arctic Tern to enjoy the benefits of a 2nd summer, making the most of daylight and a plentiful supply of food.

The round-trip journey between Arctic and Antarctic is 35,000 km (21,750 miles) - roughly the same distance as the entire circumference of the Earth.

Considering that some Arctic Terns live 30 years or more, this means that they have travelled over 1 million km (over 650,000 miles) in their lifetime. For birds that are only 38 cm long and 300 gm in weight, this is no mean achievement.

Quiet please!
Arctic Terns breed in colonies numbering hundreds or sometimes thousands of pairs. The breeding colonies are generally very noisy, but just before migration all the birds suddenly go completely quiet and then fly up together and out to sea. This odd behaviour is known as ‘dread’, but the reason for it is not understood.