Introductions: Common tern, meet a fellow common tern!

Our new common tern was introduced into our Shorebirds Exhibit on December 3. Before that, we'd sent out some of her feathers to a laboratory where the sex of the bird was determined through DNA analysis, as male and female terns look almost identical. While the bird was in still quarantine, we learned that she was a female.

Ike stands on the left, Truro on the right

We also gave her a name, Truro. In the exhibit, Truro joined our other female common tern, Ike, as well as eight other birds. Because Ike had been the only tern in the exhibit since she was introduced as a juvenile almost seven years ago, we were uncertain as to how the terns would react to each other.

Truro on the left, Ike on the right

Surprisingly, Ike, the older bird, was afraid of Truro, while Truro was eager to be around other terns and would try to approach Ike. Over several weeks, Ike began to warm up to Truro and although they don’t interact very much we often see them standing within a foot or two of each other. Both terns have also been trained to approach the door of the exhibit to get fed their morning fish with a vitamin inside of it and Truro has caught on to the routine very quickly.

Come visit the shorebirds exhibit and get to know some of the beautiful birds on your local beaches! Here are some of the animals you'll find:

• Ike the common tern has been in the exhibit for several years
• Find out how Truro found her way to the Aquarium
• Meet the semipalmated sandpiper
• See what's for lunch in the Shorebirds Exhibit