The tail is deeply forked, and the outermost streamers extend beyond the folded wings when perched. In general, roseate terns in the Caribbean begin egg laying in May, and have downy chicks in June which fledge in July, although breeding colonies shift locations. Roseate terns usually lay one or two eggs, and chicks fledge after 22 to 29 days of age. In the Caribbean, the roseate tern breeds from Florida through the West Indies to islands off Central America and northern South America. More thorough and exact population surveys are not available, primarily due to the inaccessibility of some of the islands where these terns breed.
Roseate terns breed primarily on small offshore islands, rocks, cays, and islets.
Rarely do they breed on large islands. They have been reported nesting near vegetation or jagged rock, on open sandy beaches, close to the waterline on narrow ledges of emerging rocks, or among coral rubble. It has been suggested that egging, human disturbance, rat predation, and netting of adults in Guyana, South America, are the main factors affecting the Caribbean roseate terns. The direct effect of these factors on breeding or wintering terns has not been documented. Burger, J. and M. Gochfeld.