Least Tern by Steven d'Amato

Sterna antillarum. L 9” W 20” White forehead, thin and long orange-yellow bill in breeding
season (and not seen in winter in Palm Beach county or in the state, for that matter). Dunne (2006) calls it shortbodied, short-tailed, and longwinged: “all angles and energy.” The flight is “buoyant and swift” according to Stevenson and Anderson (1994).
This beach-nesting species is running out of room here in South Florida. A few enterprising colonies have set up shop on local gravel rooftops, but not all of their friends have gotten the memo. This species is in decline throughout its range, and is listed as a threatened species by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission.
Dunne calls the Least Tern the “easily piqued beach pixie” because of its aggressive intolerance of intruders. If you spend an afternoon at Wakodahatchee wetlands, you can see the typical feeding behavior of this  smallest of terns: it hovers, then dives, but somtimes picks up food on or near the surface. It will then bring its prey to the roof of one of the rain shelters and deposit it in the waiting mouth of one of its hungry young.

References

Dunne, P. Pete Dunne’s Essential Field Guide Companion. NY: Houghton Mifflin, 2006.
Stevenson, H., Anderson, B. Birdlife of Florida. Gainesville: UP of Florida, 1994.