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Story: Gulls, terns and skuas

White tern chick

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White tern chick

Instead of building a nest, white terns simply lay their egg on a branch. Once hatched, the chick clings on with long hooked claws. In New Zealand, white terns breed in the Kermadec Islands, and they also breed in the tropics and subtropics of all the world’s oceans.

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Department of Conservation

Reference: 10030637

by Don Merton

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How to cite this page

Gerard Hutching, Gulls, terns and skuas – Noddies, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/8928/white-tern-chick (accessed 3 June 2026).

Story by Gerard Hutching, published 2 March 2009.