Tuesday, 12 August 2014

[Maine-birds] Mo' Forster's Terns

Birding with Fyn Kind at Popham this A.M., we had at least three, maybe four Forster's Terns.  Fyn nailed a fly-by winter plumaged bird over the lagoon, and later we bot got a chance to photo a couple more loafing on exposed sand near the Morse R.  Their plumage was very similar to the bird Noah has been chasing around.  Black cap, but forehead shearing into salt & pepper.  Huge bill (compared to commons it was with) and notably white primaries, vis when birds were preening.  And the size comparison was easy with these 2 spp. standing next to each other.

Lots of other highlights.  Willets pull out of the Popham Area every year at about this time, and the fact that they are still numerous at Scarborough/Biddeford suggests maybe these birds go there to join up prior to a fall migration south.  But we did manage to see one very suspicious suspect fly by as the fog was lifting, that was lanky enough to be a Western, but it was impossible to assess the plumage shade.  It'll go down as willet sp.  (I did, however, see 2 Eastern Willets fly out of the lagoon before Fyn arrived.  They're not obvious around here this time of year. )

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