Beyond the bounds of southwestern Pennsylvania you’ll see this bird nesting at the Atlantic shore, the Great Lakes, or interior Canada but the common tern is totally uncommon in Pittsburgh.

Common terns are found worldwide.  In this hemisphere they winter on the Pacific coast of Central America, on both coasts of South America and sometimes in the Caribbean.  I know they migrate to points north of Pittsburgh but do we ever see them here?  Rarely.

Brian Herman captured this one in breeding plumage at the Wetlands Institute, Stone Harbor, New Jersey.

(photo by Brian Herman)