While most terns inhabit marshes and shores, the Sooty Tern has the life of a true seabird. A long-winged flier, it wanders tropical oceans, nesting on remote islands. Many nest in Hawaii, but North American birders often seek the species by visiting the islands of the Dry Tortugas, west of the Florida Keys. Noisy around its nesting colonies by day and night; a sailors' name for the bird is "wide-awake."
