ML598804161
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Observation details
I was surprised to see 2 adult Arctic Terns on the rocks of Sisters Islets. I was VERY surprised to watch one of the ARTE catch a fish and bring it to a juvenile tern that was sitting on the rocks! I am aware of the nesting ARTE near Cortes Island but I have not seen records of nesting ARTE in this area which is quite a distance southeast of Cortes. When we first approached Sisters Islets in our small boat and I saw the two terns, I thought that the terns might be COTE. It was difficult to ID initially as we could not approach too closely and I could only see so far with my binoculars into the sun. I took a photo from the boat and could see that the tern's bill was all orange (no black tip) and the legs were very short. When one of the terns flew I could see that the underwings showed translucent primaries with a dark, narrow trailing edge. At this point I changed my ID diagnosis to Arctic Terns. The terns were vocalizing and I was able to record this. Many thanks to Guy Monty for confirming this ID.
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- 233.75 KB