White-fronted terns, or tara, are agile seabirds that gather in noisy breeding colonies along the coast. Recognisable by their black caps and long tail streamers, they plunge-dive for small fish close to shore. They are the most common tern in New Zealand but still face threats from storms and predators.
The name ‘white-fronted’ refers to the ‘frons’ or forehead, where a thin strip of white separates the black cap from the black bill. Most other ‘capped’ terns, including the black-fronted tern, have black caps that reach the bill when in breeding plumage.
Source: https://www.nzbirdsonline.org.nz/species/white-fronted-tern