Hi BA,
On Monday while checking the status of incoming Common Terns at Newcastle Ocean
Baths rock shelf a smaller different looking bird was noticed, in particular,
short legs, strong demarcation of white rump to grey back, suggesting and
immature Arctic Tern. A stack of photos were were taken and after scrutiny on
Monday evening I sent a bunch of photos off to some guys with much more
experience with Arctic Terns to verify if what I took to be an Arctic Tern was
just that. The bird has been confirmed as a first year Arctic Tern and was
showing well through the middle of the day with over 80 Common Terns, a couple
of White-fronted Terns, a few Little Terns (some in breeding garb and one or
two in non-breeding plumage) and the usual Crested Terns. An exceptional
opportunity to compare three species of commic tern together with cresteds and
littles for size comparison, although it is perhaps unlikely that the Arctic
Tern will hang around for long. The bird is exhibiting very worn wing
feathers, but is likely only briefly stopping over while on migration further
south.
The birds congregate on the rock self to the east of the baths. If you require
further information, I've cc'd in my work email as I only monitor this email
address when at home.
Regards,
Allan Richardson
Morisset NSW
===============================
To unsubscribe from this mailing list,
send the message:
unsubscribe
(in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
to:
http://birding-aus.org
===============================
|
