Tern sp., Guangxi, China (1 Viewer)

[Barbets48]

Observed this tern flying over an inland river in Western Guangxi province in June. Terns in general here are not often seen in this area, as it is quite far inland.
I previously have seen Whiskered Tern in the area a couple times, but this bird I think may be a different species. Photos were taken at a really long distance, but perhaps the overall feel of the bird along with some field marks will be enough. Included terrible photos as once in a while they can can help.

I have a suspicion as to ID, but curious to see what others suggest.

Mike

 

[KenM]

Might Common Tern be a candidate?

Cheers

 

[THE_FERN]

I think common tern. I believe I can see a black tipped red bill, dark primary edges etc

 

[Armand]

no idea of the region but as noted above, bill looks good for Common Tern, as does dark shafts through the primaries (timing also in keeping for the extent of this, ie later in the year you'd expect more), diffuse dark trailing edge to underwing primaries, longish tail, white leading edge to wings, white rump all on a sterna tern (also second pic is suggestive of a small translucent window at the bend of the underwing, tho maybe a stretch to draw too much on that considering photo quality)

i dont know what other options the location would throw up, or even if Common is reasonable for the region, but on photographic evidence alone, I see no reason for it not to be a Common Tern and key features appear to support that ID

 

[Barbets48]

Thanks for the detailed and helpful reply! My initial thought was also for Common Tern. As I mentioned, in this location there is no commonly seen tern, though Whiskered is the most likely. On both eBird and the Chinese bird report site Common Tern has been reported a number of times in Guangxi, though mostly along the coast. This seems by far the most likely for the bird I saw, though I did want to ask whether Roseate Tern could be ruled out by the photos? Are the dark tips on the outer primaries sufficient to rule out Roseate? Roseate has been seen in Guangxi before, though it would be a much more unusual sighting than Common Tern.

no idea of the region but as noted above, bill looks good for Common Tern, as does dark shafts through the primaries (timing also in keeping for the extent of this, ie later in the year you'd expect more), diffuse dark trailing edge to underwing primaries, longish tail, white leading edge to wings, white rump all on a sterna tern (also second pic is suggestive of a small translucent window at the bend of the underwing, tho maybe a stretch to draw too much on that considering photo quality)

i dont know what other options the location would throw up, or even if Common is reasonable for the region, but on photographic evidence alone, I see no reason for it not to be a Common Tern and key features appear to support that ID

 

[Armand]

with the caveat they're not the clearest of pics im ever gonna see of a tern (no offense )

typically i'd expect to see a paler looking tern with regard to the upperparts grey with a stronger darkish wedge on the leading edge of the primaries (more like sandwich tern than common tern style if you get my drift), and the extent of the diffuse trailing edge on the underwing is excessive for Roseate but fine for Common (it's broad relatively speaking and long, if present on Roseate it's typically very subtle on an adult looking bird and only the first few primaries, so short relatively)


there are other features that are in Common's favour as opposed to Roseate - tail streamers appear short for Roseate, the translucent window on the underwing spot on for Common but small for Roseate (would expect it to extend more into the hand, like a halfway house between Common and Arctic in this regard), however due to photo quality i dont think you can be dogmatic in appraisal of these features as they may be there but the pic isn't good enough to show them

the only real pro Roseate feature that i see is structurally i like the length of neck/to head ratio for Roseate of the first pic (but that is literally just a moment in time and birds pull many shapes...)

 

[johnallcock]

I agree that this looks like a Common Tern, presumably subspecies tibetana, which has a red bill.

It's worth considering that Common Tern tibetana breeds inland in parts of China (as well as Mongolia and countries in central Asia) and is commonly seen over rivers and lakes on the Tibetan plateau. I don't think a bird in Guangxi would be breeding, but it's possible that it is a migrant or a lost bird that ended up on the wrong river system.

Roseate is exclusively a coastal bird, so much less likely to be seen inland. Along with the plumages features explained above by Armand, I don't think this bird is Roseate.

 

[Barbets48]

I agree that this looks like a Common Tern, presumably subspecies tibetana, which has a red bill.

It's worth considering that Common Tern tibetana breeds inland in parts of China (as well as Mongolia and countries in central Asia) and is commonly seen over rivers and lakes on the Tibetan plateau. I don't think a bird in Guangxi would be breeding, but it's possible that it is a migrant or a lost bird that ended up on the wrong river system.

Roseate is exclusively a coastal bird, so much less likely to be seen inland. Along with the plumages features explained above by Armand, I don't think this bird is Roseate.

John, thanks for your (as always) helpful insight. Great to get further confirmation and understanding about the range and movement of Common Tern.