BIRDING TO THE EDG

Sunday, 9/21, I was among the lucky few on a Gulf Stream pelagic trip out of Hatteras, North Carolina. This was my seventh Hatteras trip run by Brian Patteson; all have been exciting but some are more exciting than others. This was an exciting trip.

As we entered deeper waters small groups of Cory's Shearwaters appeared on the horizon. Soon we were surrounded by shearwaters and some of the other expected seabird began to appear, Greater Shearwater, Audubon's Shearwater, Sooty Tern, and then our first good bird, a beautiful juvenile Long-tailed Jaeger. Shortly afterwords it happened. Richard Crossley, one of the spotters on this trip, yelled out, "Herald Petrel!!!" My head whipped around just in time to see a trim brown-and-white petrel cruise past the back of the boat and head directly away from us. I was thrilled with the brief views we had, but unexpectedly the bird turned and came directly back to our chum slick, passing within a few feet of boat. For five minute we were treated with incredible looks at this rare petrel as it made repeated passes just behind the boat.

Technically, the bird was a Trinidade Petrel Pterodroma arminjoniana which was recently split from Herald Petrel Pterodroma heraldica of the Pacific. Richard can be forgiven for not honoring this recent name change given the need for sudden action.

While the bird calmly crossed back and forth behind us, the was pandemonium on board the boat! six or seven cameras were clicking nonstop. Birders were yelling and jumping up and down, I seriously considered doing a backflip! My better judgment prevailed given that I was on a small rolling boat... plus I have no idea how to do a backflip. However if I wasn't on a boat and if I had the ability to do a backflip, I would have done a backflip!

My euphoria did not stop me from noting some of the features of the bird. I was immediate surprised at how slim and dainty it looked compared to Black-capped Petrel, the common gadfly petrel off of North Carolina. The slim body and clean lines of the Trinidade Petrel compared to the bulkier Black-capped Petrel reminded me of the difference in impression given by a soaring Broad-winged Hawk versus a Red-tailed Hawk. I had immediately called it a light morph, but Brian Patteson pointed out that was a rare intermediate morph. While the belly was all pale, the underwing was much darker than the typical light morph. Most Trinidade Petrels off North Carolina are the all brown dark morphs, light morph are much less common, and these intermediate morphs are quite rare. No matter the morph, it was an incredible bird!

Trinidade Petrel. Photo by Cameron Cox with a Nikon D200 and a 300mm Nikkor lens.

Black-capped Petrel. Photo by Cameron Cox with a Nikon D200 and a 300mm Nikkor lens.

Thanks to Brian Patteson for running an excellent trip. I will certainly be back for more.

This time of year birders often look for tropical storms and hurricanes to bring exciting storm driven birds to unusual locations. While there is no question that these massive storm often bring calamity with them, many birders anticipate these events with great excitement. Since tropical terns, a collective name for Sooty and Bridled Terns, are among the most regularly displaced storm birds, let's take a look at how to identify them.

A good place to start is with the characteristics that are useful throughout the year and then we will look at age specific characteristics.

Both these terns are fairly large, larger than a Forster's Tern but clearly smaller than a Royal Tern. Sooty Tern is a bit larger than Bridled with a larger head and broader wings. Sooty Terns have slower, deeper, more powerful wingbeats than Bridled. While Bridled Terns flight action is more like a medium-sized tern, such as a Common or a Forster's. Sooty Terns often attempt to channel their inner frigatebird by forming small, swirling kettles high above the water, though this behavior is unlikely to be displayed by a bird displaced by a storm.

Adult Sooty Tern. Photo by Cameron Cox with a Nikon D200 with a 300mm Nikkor lens.

Adult Bridled Tern. Photo by Cameron Cox with Nikon D200 with a 300mm Nikkor Lens.


The classic field mark for separating adult tropical terns is the pattern of the head. The white forehead of Sooty Tern is short and deep, ending just in front of the eye, while the white forehead of Bridled is long and narrow, coming to a sharp point behind the eye. Terrific! That's fairly clean cut is it? Unfortunately in the field on a rapidly moving bird these details can be difficult to judge. More useful for distant tropical terns is the pattern of the underwing. In Sooty the underside of the flight feathers are well, sooty, and contrast sharply with the white underwing coverts. Notice this crisp pattern in the first photo. In Bridled Tern the white from the underwing coverts invades the underside of the flight feathers, muting the contrast and giving the entire underwing a pale appearance at a distance. This is evident in the second photo.
Additionally Bridled Tern is paler above than Sooty Tern with a white collar that seperates the black cap from the brown back. Sooty Tern lacks a collar and show no contrast between the head and back.
One final characteristic that may be useful in late summer and early fall. In late summer Bridled Terns begin a body molt causing the sharply defined head pattern to become far less defined as the white forehead expands and white flecking appears all over the head. During the late summer and early fall adult Sooty Terns retain their crisp head pattern. This time of year, if a tropical tern appears very white headed as it flies toward you it is a Bridled Tern. Then you must ask is it an adult or a juvenile? Let's look at the next two photos and consider juvenile tropical terns.

Juvenile Sooty Tern. Photo by Cameron Cox with a Nikon D200 and a 300mm Nikkor lens.

Juvenile Bridled Tern. Photo by Cameron Cox with a Nikon D200 and a 300mm Nikkor lens.


I think we can all agree that juvenile tropical terns do not pose the identification challenge created by adults. Very dark with paler underwings and vent, a juvenile Sooty Tern might be most likely to be confused with a juvenile Long-tailed Jaeger, though only for a brief moment. Juvenile Bridled Terns look like an extra pale version of the adults and are unlikely to be confused with anything else.

One final note on identifing tropical terns. While everyone is aware that it is useful to use vocalizations when identifing birds in the woods, often the ears get switched off when birding on a mudflat or beach. Vocalizations are equally important in the identification of waterbirds and are diagnostic for these two terns. On the recent pelagic trip that these photos were taken on, I heard a number of Sooty Terns giving harsh, grating calls that sounded like extra harsh Common Tern vocalizations. The Bridled Terns gave a very different call, a plaintive, soft whistle making it easy to track them when they joined large flocks of Sooty Terns.

Hopefully this information will help you next time you encounter a tropical tern. Good birding and good luck!

As with most tough ID complexes it is always best to use multiple field marks before stamping the bird with a 100% confirmation.

Outside of breeding season Forster's Terns have a restricted ear-patch that no other medium-sized tern will show. Now, 90% of Forster's molt earlier than other terns (particularly Common), but occasionally this time of year you will find some Forster's with remnants of a cap. Just from a plumage perspective, juvenile Common Terns will have a very distinctive dark carpal bar not show in Forster's Terns, on the upper-side of the wing. This is evident in the photo above, shown on the first bird. In breeding season birds like Common and Arctic Terns are supremely dark ventrally, but this fades very quickly after high breeding which leaves ventral side coloration out of the mix in fall when looking at medium-sized terns.

Forster's have a somewhat elongated neck which gives them a taller standing appearance when perched/sitting (Compliments to Richard Crossley for the excellent ID point). Richard also pointed out to me that Common Tern will have a more pot-bellied appearance most of the time compared to the flatter belly of the Forster's.



What species can you ID in photo 2? All of these birds are showing their basic plumage! Notice the contrasting white primaries compared to the medium-gray coverts and other flight feathers. How about the distinctive ear-patch accompanied by a long thin neck/upright stance. All attributes that would be spot on for basic plumage Forster's Terns.


Once again notice the dark carpal bar on this Common Tern's upper wing. When I mentioned the contrasting primaries/back color of Forster's Terns we can see the darker dorsal side to this Common Tern's primaries while still exhibiting a nearly full cap. In flight Common Terns have a dark wedge outlining the dorsal side of the primaries.....which Forster's does not have. Both species have a dark wedge on the ventral side of the primaries. Common tends to have more black on the under primaries, but this feature should rarely be use in ID being that the amount of black can vary within the species.

A great clue throughout these bird's yearly cycle can be primary projection past tail. Common Tern shows wingtips meet the tail when resting whereas Forster's wingtips fall just short of the tail.

Although there are many other things to look at this should give you a running start. Please post questions. Identification of birds like these always spark great conversation. Good Birding!

Saturday, August 30th, I was birding in Cape May Point State Park with a couple of friends when we received a call about an adult Red-necked Stint at a nearby location. Shorebirds rank high among my favorite groups of birds, so my reaction was predicable: I sprinted for the car! After a tense ten-minute drive we were viewing the gorgeous little shorebird feeding within 20 feet of us. Over the next hour we were treated to excellent views and I was able to take a number of photos, though the light was poor for photography. After the initial euphoria and greed for photos subsided, I settled in and began to observe the bird closely. While this individual was very distinctive, washed with red across the breast, face, and nape, not all stints are so obvious. I looked carefully at other characteristics besides the distinctive color so I will be prepared for the next stint I run across.

I have included some of my notes on the bird below as well as a few poor photos that, nonetheless, illustrate some of my points:

Killer bird! Very active, constantly feeding. Significantly slimmer than the Alaska birds. Slightly longer than the Semipalmated Sandpiper, but appeared to be 15-20% slimmer bodied. Like the Alaska birds, gave a flat back appearance. Latter 1/2 of the body tapered quickly giving an attenuated appearance, though more subtle than White-rumped Sandpiper or Baird's Sandpiper. ~ 1/2 inch of primary projection, primaries always held crossed. Legs were short, but not strikingly so. Bill was fairly short and a bit more pointed than the average Semipalmated Sandpiper but probably not out of the range that Semipalmated Sandpiper could show. Feeding posture was consistently more tilted forward than Semipalmated or Western Sandpiper. Oh yeah, it was red!

The first thing I noticed was that this individual was much slimmer than the two Red-necked Stints I had seen in Alaska earlier this summer. Both of those individuals were so bloated from gorging themselves in preparation for breeding that their bellies almost dragged on the ground. The Cape May Red-necked Stint was extremely slim.
I also noted the fact that it held it's primary tips crossed. Semipalmated Sandpipers always keep thier primaries lying flat across the tail and are never held crossed. The overall shape with the long wings, long body that tapers quickly behind the legs, flat, broad back, and short legs all gave the impression of a miniature Baird's Sandpiper. This impression can best be seen in the third photo.

If you ever have the inkling to find a stint the best time of year to look is late July when adults are still quite bright. The Cape May individual was still surprisingly reddish for a late August stint. The second key to finding a stint is searching in location where the shorebirds are close and easily viewed. A location where 100 small sandpipers can be seen well is a better location for finding a stint than a vast mudflat of thousands of distant birds. Third key is knowing the common small sandpipers well. Knowing common birds always makes it easier to pick out a rarity. The final ingrediant is lots of patience! You probably will not find a stint on your first try. Get out and scan some shorebirds and have a good time. Good luck!

Thanks to Shorebird Guide Author, Richard Crossley, for finding this excellent bird.

Red-necked Stint taken by Cameron Cox with a Nikon D200 and a 300mm Nikkor lens. Compare the stint to the Semipalmated Sandpiper in the foreground. Note the stint's slimmer shape but slightly longer overall length.
Red-necked Stint taken by Cameron Cox with a Nikon D200 and a 300mm Nikkor lens. Notice the short legs and tilted forward feeding posture.
Red-necked Stint taken by Cameron Cox with a Nikon D200 and a 300mm Nikkor lens. Note the silhouette. Long and attenuated. Very much like a small Baird's Sandpiper.
Red-necked Stint taken by Cameron Cox with a Nikon D200 and a 300mm Nikkor lens. Look closely at the feet. Notice that it lacks the partial webbing between the toes characteristic of Semipalmated and Western Sandpipers. Also notice the crossed primaries.