Hello all, I'm hoping to get a little expert assistance. Yesterday
(9/2), my wife and I went out to Fort Monroe in Hampton to see water
birds and avoid the Labor Day crowds. We succeeded on both accounts. But
there was one bird that gave us fits in the field. After getting home
and looking at pictures and the Sibley Guide we settled on a
non-breeding Common Tern as the only possibility but it never felt quite
right. There are seven pictures of it at
http://www.pbase.com/gbheron/possible_common_tern. The bird in question
had all black legs and bill, black hood with a white forehead and very
dark primaries when sitting (see comparison to a more typical Common
Tern to the right of the subject bird in
http://www.pbase.com/gbheron/image/152155563). The subject bird also
seemed to sit lower like it had shorter legs and appeared slightly
smaller than the other Common Terns. However, there isn't anything that
could be slightly smaller that is a better fit, plus we saw it appear to
feed another Common Tern (3nd through 5th images).
Based on the descriptions in Sibley's it is either a 1st year or adult
in non-breeding plumage. But the non-breeding plumage is listed as
Oct-Mar and none of the others had started to change besides getting the
white forehead. So, do the experts agree that it is a Common Tern? If
see, would a 1st year bird be feeding another bird? I know some
woodpeckers will help out their parents prior to setting up their own
nesting sites. Do Terns do that also? Or is it a full adult that just
has changed plumage early?
Thanks in advance for any insights provided.
And on a separate note, when we got home we watched the sunset from our
pier and had two Nighthawks fly over. Lifer's for the yard.
Thanks,
Bryan
