Black tern

Black tern
Conservation status
	; Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Charadriiformes
Family:	Laridae
Genus:	Chlidonias
Species:	C. niger
Binomial name
	Chlidonias niger; (Linnaeus, 1758)
Subspecies
	C. n. niger – (Linnaeus, 1758); (Eurasian black tern); C. n. surinamensis – (Gmelin, 1789); (North American black tern);
Synonyms
	Sterna nigra Linnaeus, 1758

The black tern (Chlidonias niger) is a small tern generally found in or near inland water in Europe, Western Asia and North America. As its name suggests, it has predominantly dark plumage. In some lights it can appear blue in the breeding season, hence the old English name "blue darr". The genus name is from Ancient Greek khelidonios, "swallow-like", from khelidon, "swallow": another old English name for the black tern is "carr (i.e. lake) swallow". The species name is from Latin niger "shining black".

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.