Roseate Terns @ Marathon

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Posted by Rock Jetty on 09:03:20 06/23/04

Here's my two cents on the whole tern ID dilemma of a few postings back...of course I meant to post this earlier. On Saturday, June 19th, I headed out to the Marathon Government Center armed with spotting scope and digital camera. The Roseate, Least, and questionable "Forster's" terns were all there, calling and feeding. At this point, I kicked myself for not bringing my tape recorder to record their calls. At LaPuma's request, I took well over fifty pictures (of which less than half are decent) and observed the birds for a good hour, getting a good farmer's tan in the process (remember kids, apply sunblock!).
So here's the deal: I have to agree with John Boyd and Stefan in their belief that the terns in Blake's pics are Roseates (sorry Blake). Three field guides, plus a good number of photos I looked at in the web, show a good portion of white between the edge of the black cap anterior to the eye and the gape of the mouth in the Forster's Tern. The birds I saw, and the ones in Blake's pics, have less white in this particular area, like a Roseate should. Not to mention the bills of these birds were very long and thin, unlike that of a Forster's. The amount of red/orange in the bills of these birds created confusion, but Sibley's (page 235) mentions how this coloration extends in the Roseate's bill in late summer, making it look like a Forster's or even more so like a Common Tern. I have pictures of two birds with different bill coloration, side by side, which show no other difference between them. I also thought it would be strange for that many Forster's Terns to stick around for the summer when they normally only winter here in Florida...then again I've seen Common Tern in breeding plummage last July 4th weekend in Destin, FL, so anything's possible. The calls I heard also matched the Roseate's call when I looked them up on the web (I did my best to mentally record them).
By the way, if anyone goes there in the next few days, keep an eye out for something that resembled a LaSagra's Flycatcher. The bird flew across the narrow road leading to the tern spot. Probably wasn't, but who knows...

Cheers,
RJ

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Re: Roseate Terns @ Marathon - Ricardo Zambrano 12:13:39 06/23/04 (0)

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Comments:	: Here's my two cents on the whole tern ID dilemma of a few postings back...of course I meant to post this earlier. On Saturday, June 19th, I headed out to the Marathon Government Center armed with spotting scope and digital camera. The Roseate, Least, and questionable "Forster's" terns were all there, calling and feeding. At this point, I kicked myself for not bringing my tape recorder to record their calls. At LaPuma's request, I took well over fifty pictures (of which less than half are decent) and observed the birds for a good hour, getting a good farmer's tan in the process (remember kids, apply sunblock!). : So here's the deal: I have to agree with John Boyd and Stefan in their belief that the terns in Blake's pics are Roseates (sorry Blake). Three field guides, plus a good number of photos I looked at in the web, show a good portion of white between the edge of the black cap anterior to the eye and the gape of the mouth in the Forster's Tern. The birds I saw, and the ones in Blake's pics, have less white in this particular area, like a Roseate should. Not to mention the bills of these birds were very long and thin, unlike that of a Forster's. The amount of red/orange in the bills of these birds created confusion, but Sibley's (page 235) mentions how this coloration extends in the Roseate's bill in late summer, making it look like a Forster's or even more so like a Common Tern. I have pictures of two birds with different bill coloration, side by side, which show no other difference between them. I also thought it would be strange for that many Forster's Terns to stick around for the summer when they normally only winter here in Florida...then again I've seen Common Tern in breeding plummage last July 4th weekend in Destin, FL, so anything's possible. The calls I heard also matched the Roseate's call when I looked them up on the web (I did my best to mentally record them). : By the way, if anyone goes there in the next few days, keep an eye out for something that resembled a LaSagra's Flycatcher. The bird flew across the narrow road leading to the tern spot. Probably wasn't, but who knows... : : Cheers, : RJ
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