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September 19th, 2005. Tijuana Slough NWR,
San Diego County, CA.
| Unidentified sterna.
| Peter
Lansdown and I discovered this interesting medium-sized sterna tern
resting at the edge of the saltmarsh by the Tijuana river mouth in
early afternoon on the above date. It was present with Caspian, Royal
and Elegant Terns but appeared notably smaller than all including the
Elegants present. However, it was clearly larger than Common Tern which
we’d also seen in the area on the same afternoon.
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The bird appeared to be in first-winter plumage and showed several
interesting features, the most eye-catching of which was the dull
yellowish bill which was shorter and straighter than any Elegant Tern
present nearby. Several young Elegant Terns were present in the area
including one alongside the bird in question, but that bird appeared
larger with a longer, brighter orange-yellow bill and orange legs which
should be fairly typical of young Elegant Terns at this time of year.
The bird in question had dull legs, grayish-green in color. It also appeared slightly shorter legged than the
Elegant Terns present alongside and was dwarfed by the Royal terns
present.
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When the tern group took off, we managed to follow the bird in flight
and I ‘grabbed’ several images through my binoculars. Most
interestingly, the mantle appeared to be quite uniform with the rump. Again, the bill looked short for Elegant
Tern and the dull yellowish tone to the bill was obvious in flight. (Go straight to the flight shots.)
The most likely candidate for an identification at this site in
Southern California would be an Elegant Tern. The shorter bill of young
birds is well described in several references. However, it would be
interesting to get some comments on the features shown by this bird and
we still feel that several features don’t quite fit for Elegant Tern.
| | Images taken using Canon Powershot A-95 through Swarovski HD telescope. |
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Unidentified sterna (center) with two Elegant Terns (left) and a Royal Tern (right).
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Unidentified sterna (right) showing finely peppered crown, standing with two Elegant Terns.
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Unidentified sterna (center) with two Elegant Terns (left) and a Royal Tern (right).
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Unidentified sterna (center) dwarfed by Royal Terns.
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Unidentified sterna (front left) with Elegant Tern (center) and Royal Tern (right)
with a young Royal Tern behind the mystery bird.
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Unidentified sterna (center) with two Royal Terns (left and right) and Elegant Tern
at the far left. Western Gull and Caspian Tern in the background.
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Go to flight images >>
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