Arctic Tern

Sterna paradisaea

'Arctic' is only half the story: it nests in the Arctic and then flies to the coast of Antarctica, seeing two summers a year. Its scientific name, paradisaea, means 'of paradise.'

Sterna comes from the Old English stearn, 'tern'; paradisaea is from the Late Latin paradisus, 'paradise.' One tracked bird flew 96,000 km (about 60,000 miles) in ten months.