Recently in this column I talked about the different Terns and Noddies to be found on Lady Elliot Island.
The birds pictured, the Gull-billed Terns weren’t among those though they can be found all round the Australian continent with exception of the drier inland. The ones I photographed here were on the beach around the Bluff at Yeppoon.
There seemed to be a small group of them there that were staying in reasonable proximity to each other and keeping a safe distance back from a number of Gulls that were on the water line.
I would often take my camera and go for a walk along that Bluff area where there were quite a number of birds at different times.
However I saw the Gull-billed Terns only the once.
It tends to confirm the information I had, that this species prefers the more inland waterways like lagoons and swampy places to those at the seaside. Large numbers will move from place to place to where rainfall has provided much better conditions for them.
Altogether in Australia, we have sixteen different types of Terns that visit our shores each year. Many are quite similar in appearance and sometimes it is difficult to know which is which.
The bill of the Gull-billed Tern is thick and black, and more like that of the Gulls. It also has thicker legs than the other Terns as well, Both male and female are alike. The length of this bird is around 40cm.
Their nest is just a small rough collection of dried grasses scraped together on the ground on which up to four eggs will be laid. This bird lets out an aggressive cry if anything approaches too closely to its nest.
