[TN-Bird] SNBU Peninsula: Least Tern (Davidson Co)
- From: Joshua Stevenson <ifihadastick@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 16 May 2014 22:10:05 -0400
May 16 7pm- Davidson CO.
I went out to chase the Franklin's Gull and Mute Swan that Stephen Zipperer
reported earlier this morning, and hopefully a couple tern species or whatever
surprise SNBU might bring my way. I showed up and immediately saw the swan, but
not the Franklin's.
While waiting I Noticed a tern distinct tern shape and flight behavior and
observed for approx 5 minutes. The bird circled, hovered and dove into water
and immediately popped back out 3-4 times. Originally thought the bird was
further out but then as the bird flew back towards where I was standing and
dove into water about 10 feet from shore close I realized this was a VERY small
tern (was able to determine relative to the RBGU's around and size of rocks on
edge of shore). Got good looks through binoculars- bright yellow bill,
consistent color (not faded to dark at the tip) Black cap on head with white
forehead (area between bill and crown), overall white plumage and white wings.
After it caught a fish it flew away towards the OH Dam area (before I could try
to snap pic!).
I feel very confident about these field marks and thus the ID due to the
luckiness of it literally diving right in front of me so that I could get a
gauge on it's relative size, and the bright YELLOW (not orange/reddish/black at
all) bill, as well as the white forehead between the black crown/cap and bill.
However, since this is a new species for me and would be a new bird for that
area I would like to do my due diligence and reach out to more experienced
birders to make sure I actually have eliminated all other possibilities due to
the three field marks (yellow bill, white forehead, overall size). Based off of
what I can tell even juvenile or non breeding plumages of other terns our out
of the running. Even if I got one of them wrong (which I didn't 😉) I feel like
other two still eliminate the other candidates (Common, Forster's, Caspian,
other Sterna).
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S18423849
Joshua StevensonNashville, TN
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