Terns [South Africa] (1 Viewer)

[Gotemn]

Hello!

I observed and photographed these terns on the 28.09. at the Cape of Good Hope (Table Mountain NP). Due to a lack of experience I'm not able to identify them on a species level, and it seems to me to be more than one species. I can identify the Hartlaub's Gulls (Chroicocephalus hartlaubii) and some Sandwich terns (Thalasseus sandvicensis) in the photos, but am at a loss regarding the other terns.

 

[Nutcracker]

I'm thinking mostly Common Terns and a few Sandwich Terns. But I'm not very familiar with their winter [N Hemisphere] plumages, so see what others say too.

 

[njlarsen]

I am thinking that some of them probably are Antarctic tern (those looking like spring common/arctic terns). However, I am far from an expert, so would like more opinions on these.

Niels

 

[Gotemn]

Thanks for the replies!

I was thinking about Common Tern, too, but was balancing between this sepcies and the Arctic Tern. Due to a smoother grey and the bright rump I lean towards the latter.
I was also considering the fact that some individuals seem to have breeding plumage while others do not and if this is any hint regarding the species, but I just don't know...

 

[Nutcracker]

I'd not like to say there's no Arctic Terns there, but of the "comic terns" where the leg length is clearly visible, they're too long-legged for Arctic.