4 
Adult Sooty Tern with egg. 
POBSP Staff photo 
Nobody knows how long a Sooty 
Tern can live* although banding 
studies have shown that individual 
birds have lived to the age of 28, 
and some may live longer than that. 
Sooty Terns are strong fliers. 
'They seldom land on the water , nor 
do they come down to rest on islands 
other than their breeding island. 
Their feathers do not remain water- 
proof for very long when they are 
placed on the water , and their feet 
are smaller than those of other 
kinds of terns that sit on the 
water frequently. Biologists are 
forced to conclude that Sooty Terns 
are capable of continuous flight 
for any length of time, a most re- 
markable conclusion. 
The questions concerning the 
life of the Sooty Tern away from 
its breeding grounds can only be 
answered by the recapture of band- 
ed birds . To aid in finding the 
million banded Sooty Terns, many 
thousands of them have colored 
plastic streamers attached to their 
legs. If one Sooty Tern can be 
caught in a net, that bird can be 
used to attract others close enough 
to be caught by tying it by a long 
string and letting it fly about. 
Sooty Terns in a weakened state or 
dead should be looked for along the 
shoreline following severe storms. 
This is probably the best time to 
find banded birds . We would like 
to ask our collaborators across the 
Pacific to watch for these banded 
and streamered birds and to report 
them to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife 
Service, or to the nearest local 
authority, so that we can share 
with you the mysteries of the life 
of the tropical Pacific’s most 
abundant seabird. 
-Warren B. King 
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