White-fronted Tern

The white-fronted tern, Sterna striata, also known by names including tara, sea swallow, and kahawai bird, was first described by Johann Friedrich Gmelin in 1789 and is the most abundant tern found in New Zealand. It is a medium-sized tern with an entirely white body and underwing, a forked tail, pale grey upperparts, and, in breeding plumage, a black cap running from forehead to nape above a small white band near the bill, and it feeds on shoaling fish along New Zealand's coastline. It breeds from October through January in colonies of up to hundreds of pairs on rocky cliffs, offshore islands, and coastal shingle or sand, and many juveniles and some adults migrate to southeastern Australia and Tasmania, where small breeding colonies also exist on the Flinders and Cape Barren Islands. Introduced predators such as ferrets and stoats have pressured New Zealand populations, and the IUCN lists the species as Near Threatened. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/