sooty tern

noun

1. a black and white tern, Sterna fuscata, of small tropical islands.

Word History and Origins

Origin of sooty tern¹

First recorded in 1775–85

Example Sentences

They then took samples for analysis from wild sea birds living in the Hawaiian Islands, including two types of albatross, the sooty tern, the brown noddy and two species of booby.

From BBC

Unofficially known as Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai, it lies in the kingdom of Tonga, and is already nurturing pink flowering plants, sooty tern birds, and even barn owls.

From BBC

In those hovering flocks I discerned the duck, the goose, the coot, the loon, the curlew, the green-winged teal, the dusky duck, the sooty tern, the yellow-winged gadwale, the golden eye, and the gaudy mallard, proudly vain of that lovely plumage, whose intense hues rival the glory of the breaking dawn, the autumnal sunset, or the intermingled dyes which tinge the stripes of the showery bow.

From Project Gutenberg

Egg′-app′le, or plant, the brinjal or aubergine, an East Indian annual with egg-shaped fruit; Egg′-bird, a sooty tern; Egg′-cō′sy, a covering put over boiled eggs to keep in the heat after being taken from the pot: Egg′-cup, a cup for holding an egg at table; Egg′er, Egg′ler, one who collects eggs; Egg′ery, a place where eggs are laid; Egg′-flip, a hot drink made of ale, with eggs, sugar, spice, &c.;

From Project Gutenberg

Indeed, several Internet sites devoted to bird sightings and rare bird alerts went into overdrive this week, as people documented a sooty tern here and a black-necked stilt there.

From New York Times