There have been two European records of acuflavida, both recoveries of birds ringed as chicks in North Carolina, USA, and found dead later in the same year as first-winters. One was ringed at Cape Lookout on 23 June 1978 and found at Veerse Meer, Noord-Beveland, Zeeland, the Netherlands, on 23 December 1978. Another was ringed as a chick on 25 June 1984 near Beaufort and initially reported by telephone to the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) as found dead near Hay-on-Wye, Powys, Wales, some time before Christmas 1984. Later investigation revealed that this bird was actually found dead by a Forestry Commission ranger at Newhouse Wood, Herefordshire, on 28 November 1984. This seems an unlikely location for a Sandwich Tern but the finder identified the bird as a tern at the time. Amazingly, this was only the third county record for Sandwich Tern of any subspecies.
