A White-winged Tern, in what appeared to be first-winter plumage (as opposed
to an adult plumage or juvenal plumage), was present at 2:15 and at 3:30 p.m.
today at Swan Cove at Chincoteague N.W.R.
The bird fed actively over the open fresh water with a group of 6 to 7 Black
Terns, associating loosely on occasion with Black Terns in juvenal,
first-winter, and adult (basic) plumage. W. T. (Tom) Pendleton and I watched
it for about five minutes on its second appearance, and Ben Copeland and his
wife saw it as well. When we departed to make phone calls, the bird was
still feeding over the first part of Swan Cove one would see on arrival at
that part of the refuge.
The White-winged Tern was relatively easy to distinguish from all the Black
Terns present by its starkly pale plumage, chalky in appearance. This
paleness is a product of its pale, whitish underwings (rather than dusky or
slaty, as in Black), its predominantly white head (with only the ear coverts
dusky), its fully white underparts (lacking Black's dusky patterning on
sides, flanks, or the side of the breast, in various plumages), and its paler
upperwing surface. The outer 3-4 primaries are faintly but discernably
duskier than the rest of the upperwing surface, as Sibley depicts for the
first-winter plumage. Importantly, the bill on this bird is tiny, noticeably
smaller in the field, even in flight, than those of adjacent Black Terns.
All of these small terns are making "rounds" through Swan Cove, so it may
take some patient scanning for some time to find this bird. A scope is a
necessity. Also present here this afternoon were 8 American Avocets, 2
Piping Plovers, 22 Caspian, 1 Royal, 2 Sandwich, 4 Least, 8 Common, and 19
Forster's Terns, 41 Black Skimmers (21 of these were juveniles!) and a
scattering of common shorebirds. A Merlin, a Yellow-billed Cuckoo, a Yellow
Warbler, and an American Redstart were present in the immediate vicinity of
the new Tom's Cove visitor center.
Ned Brinkley
Cape Charles, VA
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