ML639070871

Observation details

Continuing juvenile bird at this location. This bird was a smallish tern... smaller than the nearby Forester's Terns, but larger than a Least Tern. It had a black pattern on its otherwise white head and face, and it had a dark bill. Its underparts were white. It did not have a dark bar on the upper side of its breast just under that extends from where the leading edge of its wing where its wing meets its body, but this identifying field mark was difficult to see due to the great distance that we were viewing from. Its back and folded wings were grayish and brownish, and they were darker than the backs and folded wings of the juvenile Forester's Terns. I have a very poor scope photo. Special thanks to Paul Lehman for finding a place and time of day to get decent scope views of this bird.