ML28389731

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Observation details

Adult or close to adult - Photos. I discovered this tern sitting on the beach at Race Point around 10:30 am. situated in and among a mixed flock of COTEs and ROTEs. The group of terns flushed a couple of times and eventually the WWTE headed out into Cape Cod Bay to the southwest . It was relocated by Blair Nikula roosting at the mouth of Hatches Harbor with a very large group of terns around 3 p.m. and seen again by Steve Arena and myself. This large group of terns was quite jumpy and the WWTE flushed with a smaller group of terns and moved onto a sandbar in Hatches Harbor. A nice albeit short-lived setup with near perfect late afternoon light only to have the terns flush once again and the WWTE flew off to the northeast towards the "cove" area between Race Point Beach and Race Point. It was not seen after approximately 3:45 (to the best of my knowledge) despite an ongoing search by myself, SA, BN and Peter Trimble. Several photos were obtained when the tern was at Race Point and I was able to share with SA who at the time was set up a couple of hundred yards down the beach to the east. Steve had experience with WWTE while in Saudi Arabia and concurred and confirmed ID along with MJI via text as WWTE. Salient features included bright white upperside to wings, two-toned black and white underside to wings, gleaming white tail feathering, and orange legs and feet.

Technical information

Model

Canon EOS 7D Mark II

Lens

EF400mm f/5.6L USM

ISO

400

Focal length

400 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire, auto

f-stop

f/5.6

Shutter speed

1/1600 sec

Dimensions

3830 pixels x 2553 pixels

Original file size

428.56 KB