Description:

Medium sized, unique heavy-billed, long-legged tern with slightly forked tail, broad wings and very pale body. Adult breeding has black cap, and darker grey upperparts than in other plumages. Black half-mask in non-breeding and immature plumages, lacking black 'U' across hind crown. Juvenile less heavily marked on upperparts than juvenile Sandwich.

Distribution:

Common passage migrant through Gilgit-Baltistan, rare in the eastern parts. Usually make short stops around lakes, marshes, streams and rivers with nearby vegetation and grasslands. During passage from lowlands up to 4200m high.

Behavior:

Hawks for insects over mudflats, lagoons, fields and pastures. Flies slowly and then darts swiftly down to seize prey item from surface of ground, water or vegetation. Opportunistic feeder, more insectivorous than most other terns, including grasshoppers, dragonflies and moths; also takes spiders, earthworms, locusts, small reptiles, small fish and aquatic invertebrates.

Photo Gallery:

Range & Occurrence:

Resident Species

Summer Breeder

Winter Visitor

Passage Migrant

Distribution Map of Gull-billed Tern in Gilgit-Baltistan (Status: )

Seasonal Occurrence of Gull-billed Tern

Resources:

Birds of Pakistan: Helm Field Guides (R. Grimmett & T. Inskipp)
The Birds of Pakistan (T. J. Roberts)
Birds of the Indian Subcontinent (C. Inskipp, R. Grimmett & T. Inskipp)
Birds of South Asia: The Ripley Guide (P. Rasmussen & J. Anderton)
Birds of India: Collins Field Guide (N. Arlott)
Handbook of the Birds of India and Pakistan (S. Ali & S. D. Ripley)
Handbook of the Birds of the World (https://www.hbw.com)
The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World, 6th Edition
iNaturalist BoGB (inaturalist.org/projects/birds-of-gilgit-baltistan)
Birds of Gilgit-Baltistan (http://fb.me/birdsgb)

*Gallery images on this page are shared from flickr.com, and are copyrighted to their respective creators or owners.