Tern ID's Central NJ (1 Viewer)

Can someone ID these terns for me? the first 3 photos are the same pair of birds I believe - are they forster's terns? the last photo is another individual

Yes they are Forster's Tern in breeding (Summer) Plumage.

Cheers

Alan

Thanks so much! It is a lifer for me i believe. i went through some older photos to double check. are either of these showing a forster's? still reading up on underwing details etc

thanks again

NJBirder12 said:

Thanks so much! It is a lifer for me i believe. i went through some older photos to double check. are either of these showing a forster's? still reading up on underwing details etc

thanks again

Click to expand...

These are common terns. They have darker/deeper red bills, darker trailing edges to the primary feathers, trend more towards gray on the belly vs white, and in photo two it is quite obvious that the tail streamers have dark outter edges, often described as dark outter webs. Forster’s lack the dark outter webs of the tail streamers and have less contrast overall, appearing more uniformly white. Forster’s however, still show white and dark contrast in the flight feathers especially in breeding plumage, it’s just not as pronounced.

Thank you very much!!