Hi everyone, I believe these are Caspian Terns. There is quite a bit of variation in bill color of Caspians and they can puff up the rear of their crown to make them appear a bit more like Royal Tern. Royal would have a thinner bill that is more orange in color (sometimes at this time of year they can appear quite red) and pale underside of the wings in flight. Perhaps the easiest way to tell the two apart here, is that Royal isn't here.
Royals occasionally stray north, but inland birds are exceptional with almost all showing up during a hurricane. One would not find a flock (or probably even a lone bird) on Cayuga Lake without a hurricane or other exceptional weather. Chris Chris Wood eBird & Neotropical Birds Project Leader Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York http://ebird.org http://neotropical.birds.cornell.edu On Wed, Apr 23, 2014 at 9:30 PM, Candace Cornell <[email protected]> wrote: > For the last three days, there have been 5-7 Royal Terns mixed in with the > gang of Ring-bills and immature Herring gulls at the Myer's Park spit. The > lake and stream levels are high and there is not much spit above water for > the crowd of birds to use. The gulls fuss and argue the real estate while > the terns do as terns do, sit quietly ignoring them, huddled together all > facing the wind. Yesterday, I watched two immature Herring Gulls repeatedly > dropping mollusks on the gravel spit presumably to open them. > > Everyday I see exquisitely plumed pairs of Hooded and Common > Mergansers cruising up and down Salmon Creek ignoring the wind, rain, and > cold. > > At Salt Point, the E. Bluebirds are populating the meadow; a Red-tailed > Hawk patrols the Salmon Creek near Rt. 34; Killdeer, Amer. Robins, Song > Sparrows, and N. Mockingbirds dominate the air-waves; and rattling > Red-winged blackbirds and Kingfishers compete for back up. Coots, C. > Geese, Mallards, mergansers, and Red-head Ducks patrol the shore and the > call of a Common Loon can still be seen and heard every few days offshore. > (I'm usually focused on the ospreys so my bird sightings are by no means > complete.) > > The pair of ospreys that were claiming the new platform at Myers Hill > apparently stopped their efforts. I have not seen them in over a week. Has > anyone else? These things happen. There is still time for another pair to > move in. Last year, the Salt Point pair did not meet until Earth Day, April > 22, 2013. The female osprey—I nicknamed the female Ophelia and male > Orpheus)—at Salt Point should be getting ready to lay eggs soon. > > and that's the way it is... > Candace > -- > *Cayugabirds-L List Info:* > Welcome and Basics <http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME> > Rules and Information <http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES> > Subscribe, Configuration and > Leave<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm> > *Archives:* > The Mail > Archive<http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html> > Surfbirds <http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds> > BirdingOnThe.Net <http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html> > *Please submit your observations to eBird > <http://ebird.org/content/ebird/>!* > -- > -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
