Posted by Henrik Druid on May 12, 2001 at 22:14:53:
In Reply to: Dollar a Tern (arctic) posted by Steve on May 12, 2001 at 10:44:52:
Good photos! I wish my scope allowed for taking photos. The pictures are certainly showing the short legs and bill of an arctic tern, although the protruding tail feathers are somewhat hard to discern. I´m very well aquinted with both arctic and common tern from Scandinavia. The best field character of common at a long distance is the dark thin wedge pattern on the 5-7th primaries (above), actually depicted in Natl Geographic 3rd ed, but not commented on. This pattern is, during spring, clearly visible on spring birds at distances up to 800 m. If not present, it´s almost positively an arctic. Additionally, the wings of the artcics are appear to be positioned more toward the front, and the wing-beats are typically more elastic, although these characters requires some training. The difference in underwing pattern is more difficult to determine at longer range. The grayish shading on the underparts is variable, but birds with a contrasting cheek are rarely commons.
Henrik
: Dropped by West Lake Park in Hollywood this a.m. (9:20 to 9:50) and saw the Arctic Tern reported at that location.
: It was nice enough to land nearby, and I (along with Eddie Rosenberg) observed it for about 30 minutes.
: Thanks to Eddie for having his scope along, I shot a couple of pictures thru the scope with my digital camera.
: See http://tropicalaudubon.org/arctern.jpg and http://tropicalaudubon.org/arctern2.jpg if you're interested.
: Good birding!