ML77307311
Contributor
Date
Location
- Age and sex
- Adult, Unknown sex - X
Media notes
On Thursday, I was working near the river so..........I went by Mud Island and watched as a group of large terns came flying in. One turned out to be the above Royal Tern but that was not the end of the story. Here you can see the white forecrown and the bushy shag at the rear of the head. This bird was on the Dacus Bar across the river but in TN.
Observation details
Well, the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina kept me breathless for 2 days with 3 new TN birds and a possible GREAT TN bird to be reviewed. Then, when I finally thought I could get some rest by going back to work, she did it again. I had to go down town this morning, playing catch up after playing hooky. Of course, I had to go by the river. There was nothing of interest when I pulled up except a few Least and Black Terns. I started to leave when a string of 6 large terns came flying in from behind the trees on Loosahatchie Bar. The fourth bird back, looked slimmer and sure enough it was a ROYAL TERN. They scattered about and I whipped out the camera and even through heat waves and shooting across the river, I got pretty good ID shots. I skimmed through the others but nothing really caught my eye. The Royal preened a little and another bird had sidled up to it but it was an immature and I did not pay it much attention as I concentrated on the Royal. The Royal got up and flew around fishing, giving me good looks at the wing pattern, after a while it caught a fish and brought it back to the sandbar and FED the young bird!!!! That just blew me away and I popped off a few more shots. Within a few minutes, the Caspian Terns headed down river and the Royal fed the young bird again before they too headed south. I never really got a good look at the immature except from the back as it rested and was being fed but as they flew off, it appeared to have the lighter forehead and was about the same size as the adult Royal! YOU JUST NEVER KNOW........ Photos here: http://www.pbase.com/ol_coot/image/48624611 http://www.pbase.com/ol_coot/image/48624703
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