The Scavenger
The Scavenger
Saw this Tern on 6/13/20 in a salt marsh just outside Atlantic City, New Jersey far in the distance. I could make out that it had a black bill & thought it might be a Gull-billed Tern which are common there this time of year but something didn't seem right so I took a very distant picture. When I enlarged the picture I could see the bill was longer & finer then I would expect for Gull-billed & the breast & belly seemed to have a pinkish wash to them. It also seems to be banded. Was pretty sure I'd finally found my lifer Roseate Tern but I wanted to be sure before posting it on eBird so I put the pictures up on another ID forum & the people there thought it was a pretty straightforward Roseate. I went ahead & put it on eBird but it has yet to be confirmed in spite of the fact that other birds on the checklist were confirmed. This leads me to believe the reviewer does not feel it is a Roseate & has me wondering if I'm missing something. I'm posting here now to try & get confirmation one way or the other. As I said it would be a lifer so I wanted to be sure before counting it as such. I apologize for the poor picture, hopefully it's enough to go on. Thanks in advance!
Greg Miller
Greg Miller