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I attach a message from Karel Allard re the Hartlen Pt. tern. The tern
was indeed a BRIDLED TERN, as diagnosed by Karel. It appears to be a
first summer bird (1+ yrs old), in a plumage that seems to be most
often found off SE USA. With Karel's permission, I will post a couple
of diagnostic photos on NS-RBA-Photos.
Ian McLaren
----- Forwarded message from karel.allard . . . Date: Sun, 5 Sep
2010 13:48:12 -0300
From: Karel Allard <karel.allard@gmail.com>
Subject: Tern at Hartlen Point
To: iamclar@dal.ca
Cc: Andrew Horn <aghorn@dal.ca>
Ian,
Here are a few of the better photos taken of the bird seen and
photographed by Jen Rock and myself at Hartlen Point yesterday
(Saturday 4 September, 5 pm).
We found the bird on the south side of the Back Cove at a spot on the
cobble shoreline sheltered from the strong winds. It stayed put while
we pulled out our camera, hence we were able to get photos from about
5 m away. We stayed low, but the individual flew off to a second
location further east along the point. We easily were able to again
approach the bird for a few more shots before retreating well away
from the area. As we made our way to the trail out of Back Cove, we
noticed the bird fly out over the ocean to the East. It showed a
deeply forked tail (white underside) and uniformly very pale
underwings that lacked any pronounced contrast or patterning of any
kind. I focused my attention on this latter field mark.
I've struggled with this identification due to my inexperience with
these species. Our first gut reaction was of an immature (2nd year?)
Sooty Tern, but upon inspection of the Nat Geo guide we decided that
the contrast between the cap and mantle, as well as the pale colour of
the collar were suggestive of Bridled Tern (when I called you).
However, after finding our Sibley we found that this author suggested
that a pale collar could be found on Sooty as well (thus the
back-pedal to Sooty...).
Only after looking at all of our photos (in good light and on a
computer screen this morning) was I able to properly view the image of
the bird with open wings, showing what look to me like pale primaries
with black tips. There certainly is lack of contrast between primaries
and underwing coverts. This, with my observation of the bird in
flight, makes me think that this was a Bridled Tern (second year
immature?).
I'm keen to discuss any of these points and share all other photos
with interested parties.
I'm certainly happy to hear that your health is recovering well from
this challenging summer.
All the best,
Karel
--
Karel Allard, Ph.D.
Halifax, Nova Scotia
(902) 465-3656
----- End forwarded message -----
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