ML117579431

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Observation details

(Rare): found by Brodie, he texted so I joined him pre-yoga class, watched it with him (and Z) : prob Common but I could easily be persuaded Arctic if someone seeing photos says so ... but I am leaning to Common, as Brodie said. I have only before seen 3 Common well and they were recently but all juveniles, and this plumage wasn’t juv, is maybe a faded adult? bird very pale, gray of back is paler than the gray of juv Commons I saw, and the black at edge of wings is thinner black, not as thick a bar, and the gray at carpal shoulder is very faint. In some photo there is some darker gray of a primary wedge upper wing in flight, but it is not dark gray, and some photos don’t really show it, and I couldn’t see that as darker through just bins. (Note weather today is gray and often light-raining, so this may be affecting how pale this bird’s grays are showing up. [Rain of today and next few days, began last night.]) The bill is large and does have some black, towards tip, but apparently there are plumages/ages of Arctic that also have some black. Brodie and I never were able to see it perched with a nice side view to see how color of wingtips compared to mantle; when perched on submerged-log in river, it was facing us, and otherwise it was seen in flight, flying upriver and, Brodie said, often returning to this small log sticking out of water, log beside the gull rocks. Whichever Tern turns out to be, is a nice find by Brodie, and thanks for letting me know and to get to watch with you! and a good learning lesson for me. If turns out is Common, it means that adult terns are really difficult ID ... because this really was an allover paler bird with less darker gray than juv Commons: mostly appeared in flight as uniformly pale and all white underneath, with only a thin edge of dark at wing edge of primaries only seen sometimes. Reviewing photos, I am thinking yes, prob Common.

Technical information

Model

Canon PowerShot SX60 HS

ISO

400

Focal length

247 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire, auto

f-stop

f/6.5

Shutter speed

1/160 sec

Dimensions

1400 pixels x 1100 pixels

Original file size

414.02 KB