tern sp. Bird Island, Seychelles November 2010 (1 Viewer)

[FXM]

A friend of mine has just returned from the Seychelles. Plenty of Sooty and Bridled Terns present. Any thoughts on these particularly the last two images which involve the same bird? First three relatively straightforward I think.

 

[VC65_Birder]

The first three pics do feature Sooty Terns; adults in the first two photos and a juv in the third. The first photo also shows a number of Saunder's Terns.

The last two pics show what appears to be a Common Tern - bill doesn't look fine enough for White-cheeked Tern.

 

[FXM]

What about Bridled Tern for the first image?

 

[VC65_Birder]

What about Bridled Tern for the first image?

Still Sooty for me; too much white on the forehead for a Bridled IMO

 

[Parker]

What about Bridled Tern for the first image?

The first image is indeed a Bridled Tern, note how the white forehead patch extends over the eye.Also the mantle is not as dark as on the Sooty Tern in the next photo.

 

[Jim M.]

The first image is indeed a Bridled Tern, note how the white forehead patch extends over the eye.Also the mantle is not as dark as on the Sooty Tern in the next photo.

Agree for the same reasons.

Best,
Jim

 

[FXM]

My thoughts on the first three are: 1) Bridled 2) Sooty and 3) Sooty juv.
Anyone other than VC65 prepared to have a go at the last two images? Not sure how much of an influence the strong sunlight has in those shots.

Also small group of Saunders's Tern in photo one as per VC65 - hadn't thought to include those actually. Doesn't seem as if Little Tern occurs there.

 

[Southern Frogmouth]

See http://www.stokecoll.ac.uk/sbrc/checklist3.htm for status of birds in Seychelles. Little is apparently a vagrant and Saunders' an annual migrant. White-cheeked is a vagrant and Common is an annual migrant. Certainly agree 1) Bridled, 2) Sooty, 3) Sooty. 4 and 5 do look like Common Tern to me as well. As for the small terns on 1 - good luck as I don't think you can be certain in non-breeding plumages.

 

[FXM]

Cheers TringBirder. So we can't rule out Little in the first pic with certainty but highly likely to be Saunders's. Well known to be tricky to separate.

When I first saw the picture of 4 or 5 (not sure which it was) at Coble Landing Cafe, Filey, Yorkshire UK, Common Tern didn't occur to me for whatever reason; with hindsight probably because the photo was not great. However, it shows much better/clearly in these examples. Having had the species list pointed out to me (cheers for that) I'm now aware that Common Tern is an annnual migrant and the likely candidate but anyone think this might be a vagrant White-cheeked?

 

[KenM]

but anyone think this might be a vagrant White-cheeked?

According to Collins...White Cheeked Tern breeds in the Northern Indian Ocean.

cheers

 

[FXM]

Seems the issue of separating White-cheeked from Common was discussed in an old thread back in 2006. I'll have a look at that in more detail later.

 

[Jane Turner]

This one?

The conclusion was they are hard!

http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=58726&highlight=cheeked

 

[FXM]

Thanks Jane.

An article in Birding World Volume 3 Number 7, by Erik Hirschfeld states 'Adults are usually quite straightforward to identify, but occasional individuals with paler underparts can resemble CommonTern.' and 'Separating White-cheeked Tern from an unusually dark 'Commic Tern' is not difficult provided good views are obtained.'

As an aside it's interesting looking through this issue of BW which is now an incredible 20 years old. Can hardly believe it.