### Identification The Antarctic Tern is a medium-sized, elegant seabird with a "dipped-in-ink" black cap and a deeply forked tail. Look for its signature blood-red bill and legs—a stark contrast against its pale grey mantle and snowy underparts. To distinguish it from the nearly identical Arctic Tern, look at the wings: *S. vittata* is stockier, with broader wings that lack the dark trailing edge on the primary feathers. Crucially, if you see a tern in full breeding plumage during the Southern Hemisphere summer, it is an Antarctic Tern; the visiting Arctic Terns will be in their "winter" white-fronted phase.
### Habitat & Range These hardy residents haunt the storm-tossed shores of the Southern Ocean. You’ll find them nesting on the rocky ledges, scree slopes, and shingle beaches of sub-Antarctic islands—such as South Georgia and the Kerguelens—extending down to the Antarctic Peninsula. They are strictly coastal, rarely venturing far from the ice-free fringes where the sea meets the stone.
### Behaviour Observers will first hear their piercing, rattling "kree-er" calls. Highly social but fiercely territorial, they are the "spitfires" of the coast; they are famous for communal mobbing, relentlessly dive-bombing predatory skuas or even humans who wander too close to their camouflaged ground nests. During courtship, watch for "fish-flights," where a male carries a shimmering prize to impress a mate in a high-aerial display.
### Diet Masters of the surface-plunge, they hover momentarily with rapid wingbeats before dropping into the frigid surf. Their diet is dominated by Antarctic krill (*Euphausia superba*) and small fish like the Antarctic silverfish, snatched with precision from the top few centimeters of the water column.
### Fascinating Fact While their cousin, the Arctic Tern, is famous for the world’s longest migration to find "eternal summer," the Antarctic Tern is a true "polar local." They endure the brutal, sunless Antarctic winter by shifting only slightly north to the edge of the pack ice—braving gale-force winds and sub-zero temperatures that would freeze most other seabirds solid.