White-winged Black Tern (Chlidonias leucopterus)
Channel: Dipu Karuthedathu
Date: 2013-05-18

White-winged Black Tern (Chlidonias leucopterus) or just White-winged Tern is considered a passage migrant in South India, more commonly seen in eastern coasts. These birds are very similar to Whiskered Terns in non-breeding plumage and may be easily missed in such a mixed group. But, when they are going back to their breeding ground, it is very easy to identify when they adorn their beautiful black and white wedding dresses. During the months of April, they can be seen in good numbers around Chennai. 

The first part of the video shows the typical behavior of a feeding flock - they keep moving in a group over a patch of water (say approx 50m) like a wave - dipping and gathering feed (insects?) from the water surface and again gaining height and repeating the same. Once they reach the end of the patch, they fly back to the starting point and start the wave again. 

The second part of the video shows an adult in full breeding plumage foraging and the last part shows a bird in partial breeding plumage. These 2 parts are slowed down by half in-order to get a better view of the bird.

This video was taken from Pallikkaranai Marshes in Chennai in April 2013

There is no copyright on this video (except for music) and anyone is free to make use of the visual contents :-)