ML63205301
Contributor
Date
Location
- Age
- Not specified
- Sex
- Not specified
Observation details
***MEGA (first NJ record); continuing rarity ; some notes here: The bird's early afternoon loafing/ preening/ bathing session between the False Hook and the Tidal Cut gave plenty of time to study the bird in great light with other terns for comparison. As for its age, I think the bird is likely a first summer tern (probably hatched in spring/ summer 2011), signalled mostly by some dark-centered secondaries and dark markings on at least 3 pairs of outer tail feathers. I think that this bird is surely an Elegant Tern, with some useful ID characters (used to rule out things like Lesser Crested Tern, Royal Tern, Cayenne Tern, etc) being the following: -size - about 2x as tall as a standing Common Tern, but still dramatically smaller than Royal Tern -orange bill with tip fading to paler yellow (contrast = very obvious); thinner overall than Royal Tern and fine-tipped -shaggy black "punk" crest continuing forward to encompass the eyes in a slight mask (pale eyelid contrasts with black "eye-surround" when eye is closed) -white uppertail coverts contrasting slightly with the pale gray back (back was paler than Common Tern)
Technical information
- Model
- Canon EOS 7D
- Lens
- EF400mm f/5.6L USM
- ISO
- 500
- Focal length
- 400 mm
- Flash
- Flash did not fire, auto
- f-stop
- f/6.3
- Shutter speed
- 1/640 sec
- Dimensions
- 1498 pixels x 1000 pixels
- Original file size
- 755.69 KB