So light and buoyant on water or in air are these dainty birds that they are sometimes mistaken for Terns. I have watched them often following tide rips, curving down at intervals for a tidbit.
I labeled my first specimen Sterna hirundo altho with grave doubts for I could not convince myself that a Tern would brave a New England coast Winter.
MacFarlane and others agree that they nest in low evergreens, placing the nests on horizontal branches, usually close to the trunk.
From northwestern Alaska, south in Winter on Pacific to Lower California and on Atlantic to Florida.