 Breeding evidence |
||
Click for a larger version or to add map overlays |
||
Click on plot to view table of mean abundance
|
Number of squares
Long-term BBS trends
|
3.17 (0.816 - 5.69)|
Mean abundance (number of birds detected per 5 min. point count) and percentage of squares occupied by region Bird Conservation Regions [abund. plot]
[%squares plot]
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Atlas Results
A visit to a known colony on Rock Island in Doré Lake confirmed breeding for Caspian Terns, with 122 nesting among large mixed-colony of Ring-billed, California, and American Herring Gulls, Common Terns, Double-crested Cormorants, and American White Pelicans. Elsewhere on Reed Lake a pair was observed in a gull colony where Caspian Terns had been observed nesting in 2016, and another pair was spotted at Rafferty Reservoir, though the latter may have been in transit. Other scattered sightings of birds in suitable habitat may be of non-breeders. The colony on Churchill Lake was not visited during the atlas years.
Excerpts Adapted from the Birds of Saskatchewan:
The Caspian Terns broad, expansive wings allow it to soar and wheel dramatically like a gull, and its slow wing-beats power a graceful flight that is strong and swift (Cuthbert and Wires 1999). The Caspian Tern has what biogeographers refer to as a relict distribution. Although it has a breeding range that includes all continents except Antarctica and South America and winter range that also includes the latter, its range is highly fragmented, thought to be indicative of a formerly much wider distribution.
The Caspian Tern favours rocky islets on large lakes in the mixedwood forest, including Doré, Churchill, and perhaps Peter Pond Lakes, in association with Double-crested Cormorants and California, Ring-billed, and American Herring Gulls. On migration it occurs on larger lakes and rivers.
With only 2 known regular colonies, Doré Lake and Churchill Lake, the species must be described as a rare and local summer resident. A single pair has occasionally bred at various sites on Last Mountain Lake and in 2000 it bred at Reed Lake. "The recent (1989) discovery of the Churchill Lake colony, and the tern's status as an uncommon summer visitant over much of the central portion of the province, suggest that more colonies may yet be discovered? (Smith 1996).
Original text by C. Stuart Houston. Text adapted by Daniel J. Sawatzky
Read more about the Caspian Tern in the Birds of Saskatchewan here.
Recommended citation: Latremouille, L. M. 2025. Caspian Tern in Latremouille, L. M., S. L. Van Wilgenburg, C. B. Jardine, D. Lepage, A. R. Couturier, D. Evans, D. Iles, and K. L. Drake (eds.). 2025. The Atlas of the Breeding Birds of Saskatchewan, 2017-2021. Birds Canada. Saskatoon, Saskatchewan https://sk.birdatlas.ca/accounts/speciesaccount.jsp?sp=CATE&lang=en [14 Nov 2025]
| Previous species: California Gull | Table of Contents | Next species: Black Tern |