ML59133591

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Tags

Multiple species

Observation details

Found by Michael Brothers yesterday and again earlier today. When I arrived, a thunderstorm was rolling in. Thankfully it dodged the inlet. Shortly afterward, several least terns made their way in from the mouth of the inlet past the jetty. Following them, but separate, came a sterna tern with a noticeably different shape and flight style from familiar common and forster's terns. It was a medium sized tern with a black cap, short neck, small bill, bright white cheek, pale gray upper parts, pale gray belly, thin dark trailing edge of its underwing primaries, with a bright white tail that was long and deeply forked. It flew low close to the waves and regularly picked at the surface. It did not dive at all. Got great looks as it flew in a fluttering pattern all the way into the inlet past the dog beach and out of sight. I waited for about 15-20 minutes before it came back towards the mouth of the inlet. This time is flew very close to me, right along the rocks on the north side. I got great looks at it's solid, blood red bill. Unfortunately, it never landed. I was able to get some digiscoped shots showing field marks, as it interacted with a laughing gull and flew back out of the inlet, but none while it was close. An absolutely beautiful life bird!

Technical information

Model

iPhone 6

Lens

iPhone 6 back camera 4.15mm f/2.2

ISO

32

Focal length

4.2 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire, auto

f-stop

f/2.2

Shutter speed

1/430 sec

Dimensions

3264 pixels x 2448 pixels

Original file size

882.61 KB