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Greetings and Help!
Just spent a great two days at Kurramine beach:
eating, walking, swimming and resting with a good bit of birding thrown
in.
The problematic bird, seen on all three days, was
an almost all white tern. I do not think it is a White Tern as it was the same
size as the little Terns which were often nearby. It was a solid white in colour
and lacked the translucent quality (except in flight with the light behind it)
that I remember White Terns having, nor did its bill turn up in that funny way.
Its legs appeared orange or kaki depending on the light. At one time it walked
away from me and I thought that the soles of its feet were yellow. The fine bill
was all black. The eye was dark and this with the bill and feet exclude an
albino. On landing it shuffled its wings a lot more than most of the Little
Terns which it never joined as part of a flock. When it took to the air it was
silent unlike the Little Terns. It sat apart from them and when flying at the
same time stayed out of the group. On the crown rather than the nape was the
hint of colour, grey-brown or silver depending on the angle at which it was
viewed. The same colour was a faint wash on the scapulars and the outer greater
coverts. There was no black behind the eye on the nape or in the primaries. The
wings extended beyond the tail when sitting but the tail was only visible when
the bird shuffled or raised its wings. I was not aware of the bird calling at
any time.
Any ideas folks?
For tern lovers I should add that of the at least
six Little Terns in breeding plumage one was sitting on two eggs. Other terns
seen were Crested, Lesser Crested in good numbers and one each of Gull-billed
and Caspian.
Other birds of interest on the beach
included:-
6+ Tereck Sandpipers
9 Greytailed Tattlers
63 Lesser Sand Plovers ( one of which had a few
rusty feathers on the breast. Is it really early or really late?)
2 Greater Sand Plovers
3 Beach Stone Curlews
80+ Red-necked Stints
1 Mangrove Heron
2 Osprey
4 Bar-tailed Godwits
Regards,
Alan
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