ML589409581

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Observation details

I was walking through the parking lot when suddenly a large group of Thalasseus terns flew over. I snapped a couple of pictures and moved on, thinking that they were all Elegant Terns. Later, I examined my photos and found that one of the birds in the flock was quite different (I have circled this bird in the attached photo). It was smaller than the Elegant Terns, though it did not appear as small as a Sterna tern. Its bill appeared long and dark, and it had a solid black cap that seemed to indicate that it was in breeding plumage. Sandwich Tern seems most likely, as a Forster's Tern wouldn't have the dark cap/bill combination and Gull-billed would have a shorter and thicker bill. That being said, there is not enough information from the photo to reliably identify the bird, so it will be left under this taxon.

Technical information

Model

Canon PowerShot SX540 HS

ISO

80

Focal length

80.3 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire

f-stop

f/5.6

Shutter speed

1/320 sec

Dimensions

5184 pixels x 3888 pixels

Original file size

1.89 MB