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Dieren en planten

Terns   Sandwich tern   Common tern   Arctic tern   Little tern   Swimming birds   

Terns

Terns are elegant birds. They have a long tail and long sleek wings. This helps them to hang in the air above the water surface for a long time and at the same time, allows them to be super fast and manoeuvrable. They are totally adapted for catching fish. When they spot something edible, they throw themselves straight down. With the prey in their beak, they fly back up making it look like they are bouncing off the water. Terns can be found in freshwater marshes (marsh terns) and along the coast (sea terns). Along the coasts, you find mostly the sandwich tern, the common tern, the Arctic tern and the little tern.

On Texel


The sandwich tern, the common tern, the Arctic tern and the little tern all nest on Texel. Black terns visit the island occasionally in the summer. The other species of European terns are wanderers.

  • Distribution and habitat
    Common tern, foto fitis, adriaan dijksen

    Terns are typical summer guest in the North Sea region. They come here to breed in April and May and depart for the West-African coast in the months of August and September. They spend the winter on islands and mangrove forests. Common terns and Arctic terns nest in colonies spread along the entire North Sea coast, while the sandwich tern is only found in the southern, sandy part of the North Sea shores.

  • The more the merrier
    Sandwich tern, Adriaan Dijksen, www.fotofitis.nl

    Terns often nest in large groups, preferably very close together. Some species make their nest in hollows on the ground, others in trees using an assortment of twigs or floating plant remnants. Sometimes, the groups are so large that the screeching birds can be heard from great distances.

  • Terns in fashion

    In the early 20th century, it was fashionable in the Netherlands to decorate lady's hoods with bird feathers. That sometimes meant complete tails, wings and even entire birds were placed on the hood. Common and Arctic terns were the favorite items for this fashion horror. During the years 1906-1907 in particular, large parts of tern colonies were decimated for this purpose. These murders led to the decision in 1908 to give terns a protective status. This was a momentous decision in the history of bird protection since it was the first time that a bird was protected due to 'natural balance'. Previously, only plants and animals were protected when they directly benefited man.