Species
Chlidonias niger (Black tern)
Chlidonias niger. Photo: (c) nancylightfoot, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)
The black tern (Chlidonias niger) is a small tern generally found in or near inland water in Europe 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…