Tweet of the Day

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Factual: Science & Nature

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

Discover birds through their songs and calls. Each Tweet of the Day begins with a call or song, followed by a story of fascinating ornithology inspired by the sound.

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Tweet of the Day: White Tern

01/01/2015

White Tern

BBC Radio 4 - Tweet of the Day, White Tern

Sir David Attenborough presents the widespread marine species, the white tern.

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.
 
Sir David Attenborough presents the widespread marine species, the white tern. Also known as fairy  terns or angel terns, these are very slender, long-winged  birds, brilliant white except for a black, slightly-upturned  bill, dark  eyes and very short blue-grey legs.  In flight, their wings appear almost translucent. For such a delicate-looking bird, they have rather harsh calls.  Unusually they lay their eggs on a bare branch. The female tern selects a small groove in the bark or on the leaf-stalks of palms where her single egg will be most secure. Here, on its tropical tightrope, the egg is safer from ground predators like rats and because there's no nesting material, there's less chance of parasites.

Producer : Andrew Dawes

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