Black Tern Childonia niger By: Keisha Scientific Classification: Kingdom: Animalia Pylum: Chordata Class: Aves Order: Charadrifornes Family: Laridae Genus: Childonia Species: niger

Natural History

The black tern is an animal which means it is a multi-celluar organism that makes up the Kingdom Animalia.  It is also an endangered species. Black terns nest in the United States and some parts of Canada in summer and spring. They nest in the months of April and May, and then again in August.  It takes up to four weeks for the eggs to hatch.The black tern starts to fly at the age of three to four weeks.

The black tern, like most other birds, has hollow bones which are very strong, and because they have hollow bones they are very light.

The black tern,  like all other birds,  is also believed to have evolved from Archaeopteryx,  which lived millions and millions of years ago.  A way the black tern has changed from Archaeopteryx is that way back then all birds had teeth.  Now they don’t.  Now birds have crops and gizzards to help to digest their food.

Habitat

The black tern’s habitat is in a lot of places and here is where they are mostly found:  shallow waters,  wetlands,  margins of lakes,  riverbanks,  and edges of ponds.

Black terns live in coastal areas and inland marshes.  They nest in open grass lands,  They also live in them,  too.  They can live in deep marsh.  In the winter they live with other terns on the coast.  Black terns also live in lakes and swampy areas, even on the side of a shallow waters.

Present Status

My animal is endangered on the Maine State list.  

Physical Description

Black tern have dark legs, heads,  breasts,  necks,  stomachs, and under the tails.They have gray wings that change to pale white. The length is nine to twelve inches.  The wingspan of a black tern is anywhere from thirty-five to forty inches.  They have short legs and a short tail.  They have a smoothly rounded head.

As the black tern gets older the face turns pale white.  The upper wing turns gray and black.  They also have a gray shoulder bar. When the black tern gets old, they have black gray face, foreneck, stomach, dark ears, brownish black upper wings, and dark gray shoulder bar.

Diet and feeding

Black terns eat bugs, grubs, small marine fish, insects, freshwater fishes, dragonflies, larvae and small mollusks.  They get the fish from one of their habitats, fresh water.  If they don’t get them from the freshwater they were probably on the side of a beach or on the side of a pond.

The bugs that they eat come from plants or on the ground.  They eat several times of day.  The black tern is a consumer, meaning it eats other aminals.  The black tern is a part of the food chain.  It is prey and predator.

Cause of endangerment

Black tern’s nesting colonies are small, meaning they nest in small groups.  There are about ten sites the black tern uses for nesting. Their habitat is small and if it disappears by human disturbances then black terns have no habitat left.   They have to take down the black tern's habitat in order to build houses and factories.  The black tern's habitat is small.  They have less than five sites that they can go to and have a habitat.

Bibiography