John Gould described Sterna macrotarsa from a specimen held at King's College, London in 1837.

[2] This is a fairly large and powerful tern, similar in size and general appearance to a Sandwich tern, but the short thick gull-like bill, broad wings, long legs and robust body are distinctive.

[5] In winter, the cap is lost, and there is a dark patch through the eye like a Forster's tern or a Mediterranean gull.

It largely feeds on insects taken in flight, and also often hunts over wet fields and even in brushy areas, to take amphibians and small mammals.

[3] It is also an opportunistic feeder, and has been observed to pick up and feed on dead dragonflies from the road.