Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Elegant Tern Photos For Review - Cupsogue LI...

I will do a blog post on today's spectacular birding out at Cupsogue Long Island. As if Red-necked Stint, Arctic Terns and a hybrid Dunlin X White-rumped Sandpiper was not enough for one day. Andy Guthrie, Michael Scheibel and I found what we strongly believe to be an Elegant Tern. When I write my post, I will tell my readers how we happened upon this bird. For now, I am posting a few photos for those who would like to rule out Cayenne, Lesser Crested Tern or the Orange-billed form of Sandwich Tern. If you have any dispute with the ID of this bird, please post a comment.


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7 comments:

  1. Brian SchieferJuly 4, 2013 at 12:19 AM

    Well there was that bird at Sandy Hook ...was it last year? Is it possibly the same bird that's been hanging around?

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  2. rich PorricelliJuly 4, 2013 at 5:38 AM

    I was at Cupsoque yesterday and did see a bird resembling this one..I did not have a spotting scope but I identified it as an adult non-breeding Royal..The fog was moving in, it was about 8:00 to 8:30 am..It was near the Piping Plover breeding area, preening itself..

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  3. AnonymousJuly 4, 2013 at 7:54 AM

    Brian: only if the bird last year was a first-cycle, since this bird is a second-cycle (first-summer) individual - note the dark-centered secondaries and moult boundary in the inner primaries.
    Martin Reid

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  4. BIRDINGDUDEJuly 4, 2013 at 8:29 AM

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  5. BIRDINGDUDEJuly 4, 2013 at 8:30 AM

    Brian, was the Sandy Hook a 1st cycle bird?

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  6. BIRDINGDUDEJuly 4, 2013 at 8:32 AM

    Rich, it very well could have been; however, there were many birders on the flats during the time you were there including Andy Guthrie, (the co-finder) who reported Royal Terns earlier and they had spotting scopes.

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  7. TerriAugust 22, 2013 at 10:31 PM

    This is fantastic!

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