Thursday, July 14, 2011

Today's Photo - 1st Summer and Adult Common Tern...

1st Summer with an Adult Common Tern in the same frame for comparison.
Note: the 1st summer plumage on a Common Tern (Sterna hirundo), is much like an adult in winter plumage. In this photo, note the dark lesser coverts and secondary bar. You could also get a hint of the brownish-tinge that is seen on the 2-4 outer primaries on the 1st summer bird. I was very pleased to get these two birds in the same frame while out in the field doing some Tern studies. I hope you like it as much as I do.

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3 comments:

  1. eileeninmdJuly 15, 2011 at 8:20 AM

    A great shot of the terns for comparison.

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  2. Mark YoungJuly 16, 2011 at 10:22 PM

    G'day BirdingDude,
    A very nice blog with some lovely information.
    Currently we have terns here that look very similar to Commons. Splitting these 2 can be hard sometimes.
    I've put some images and video on my blog if you care to check them out.
    http://bit.ly/nGrNim
    Regards,
    Mark

    ReplyDelete
  3. UnknownJuly 21, 2011 at 10:15 PM

    Thanks for the lesson Andrew!

    ReplyDelete