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  Profile

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  In flight

Celestial Couriers

Arctic Tern

Sterna paradisaea

• celestial
• 90 km/h
• Least Concern

Migrates pole to pole, more miles of daylight than any creature on Earth. The real long-distance icon.

Population

More than 2 million mature individuals globally, over half in Europe (European population ~564,000-906,000 breeding pairs); overall trend decreasing

Habitat

Coastal shorelines, islands, and occasionally inland tundra near water during breeding; open ocean while migrating and wintering off Antarctic pack ice

Fun fact

The Arctic Tern makes the longest migration of any animal on Earth, flying pole to pole each year — one tracked individual covered about 96,000 km in 10 months — accumulating roughly 2.4 million km over a lifetime and experiencing more daylight annually than any other creature.

Range

Circumpolar Arctic and subarctic breeding range across North America, Europe, and Asia; migrates the full length of the Atlantic (or Pacific/Indian Ocean routes) to winter in the Southern Ocean near Antarctica

Diet

Small fish (herring, sandlance, capelin, cod) and marine invertebrates (krill, amphipods, small crabs); occasionally insects, worms, mollusks, and berries

Size

0.35 m

Wingspan

0.76 m

Lifespan

30 years