Whiskered Tern
Chlidonias hybrida
See this bird on the water. Private boat tours from Rijeka Crnojevića, your group only.
The whiskered tern is the bird that turns a summer boat trip into a spectacle. Small, grey and buoyant, it hunts by dipping to the surface again and again rather than plunge-diving, and in July the lake can hold hundreds of them working the lily fields at once.
The seasonality is unusually sharp: records spike in July and fall away quickly either side. This is a bird with a narrow window, and midsummer is it.
They nest on floating vegetation, often on the lily pads themselves, which ties them to exactly the habitat that makes Skadar distinctive.
When to see it on Lake Skadar
Most often recorded in July, from 884 sightings logged on the lake. July is the single strongest month.
- Jan: 0 records
- Feb: 0 records
- Mar: 0 records
- Apr: 72 records
- May: 175 records
- Jun: 145 records
- Jul: 270 records
- Aug: 170 records
- Sep: 48 records
- Oct: 3 records
- Nov: 0 records
- Dec: 0 records
Peak months Other months
Conservation status
Least Concern
Records on the lake
884
Peak season
Jul
Habitat
Water-lily fields and open shallows
Where on the lake
Over the water-lily fields, which are at their fullest in July and August — the same conditions that make the lilies worth seeing make the terns worth seeing. Best from the open-water stretches of the Full Circuit.
How to tell it apart
Dark grey belly and white cheek stripe in summer; dips to the surface rather than diving.
