Sea birds continued - a tern (1 Viewer)

[PeteQuad]

Seen between France and Ireland 3rd week of August.

 

[SteveClifton]

1cy Common Tern

 

[PeteQuad]

Thank you sir.

 

[tom baxter]

1st cy Arctic would be my guess with the white secondaries. I’m not sure if they would be rare in that region.

 

[Andrew Whitehouse]

1st cy Arctic would be my guess with the white secondaries. I’m not sure if they would be rare in that region.

A juvenile Arctic Tern at this time of the year should normally show a dark black bill though. Also, I think the dark secondary bar is obscured by the angle of the light. It looks as though you can see the beginnings of it in the outer secondaries but it then fades.

 

[SteveClifton]

Also, I think the dark secondary bar is obscured by the angle of the light. It looks as though you can see the beginnings of it in the outer secondaries but it then fades.

That was my interpretation too Andrew. That part of the wing is burnt out with over-exposure.

Agree about the bill colour, and also the shape and extent of the black cap favours Common over Arctic, as does the lack of a clearly defined dark trailing edge to the primaries.