ML463124611

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Observation details

**Rare, second Gooseberry record according to eBird; Steven Lima observed the first record landed on the same rocks on August 10th, 2013. At 5:48, I observed a medium sized tern with stiff wing beats, pale upperside, and a white forehead flying directly towards me. It stuck out to me as different, so I snapped some pics and kept watching it through the scope. Soon it banked east and dropped down to the rocks just off the south tip of Gooseberry. This allowed me to gather a few more solid ID points confirming my suspicion. It remained on or flying above the rocks for the next 20 minutes before it flew off to the NE with LAGU–possibly joining in a feeding frenzy, visiting the Allen’s Pond tern colony, or continuing up Buzzards Bay. ID: Medium sized tern–slightly larger than nearby COTE–with a light gray back, white underside, slim black bill with pale tip, and long black legs. I also noted its upright posture while sitting, short fanned tail in flight, and hint black on wing tips/smudgy secondaries–so 1st cycle(?) It was fairly aggressive towards the LAGU and COTE, sometimes hovering directly above them making them fly off. It seems that whenever these birds do show up they come with strong wings, which was definitely the case here–strong from the southwest since early yesterday

Technical information

Model

Pixel 2 XL

ISO

38

Focal length

4.5 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire

f-stop

f/1.8

Shutter speed

327/50000 sec

Dimensions

1098 pixels x 845 pixels

Original file size

244.75 KB