White-winged Black Tern

Chlidonias leucopterus

Rare & annual vagrants from Eastern Europe between April-October.

Breeds in Eastern Europe.

Winters in Africa.

Breeding Adults have short red legs and a short black bill.

 Also have a black neck (often with a pale gray back) and belly, very dark grey back, with a white rump and light grey (almost white) tail, which often looks 'square' in juveniles.

The face is tinged yellowish.

The wings, as the name implies, are mainly white.

In Juveniles and Moulting Adults, the rump is pale gray, becoming grey in both phases late in the year.

The clear white collar and rump isolate the mantle as a dark brown 'saddle'.

The mantle feathers have narrow paler brown tips, as have the tertials and scapulars.