From Anous to Thalasseus: Tern Heroes

Brown Noddy is a truly slick looking bird, with shades of gray, brown and black all somehow seamlessly melting into one another.  I'm told they can be pretty aggressive around nests but in my experience with them you just walk up to them and they let you stare at them super hard. Photographed at Midway Atoll.

I have a plan...a plan to see a certain species of tern.  A species I haven't seen before.  I'm not going to try for another couple of months, but I'm really looking forward to it.  I don't get lifer terns very often (the last couple were Bridled in 2013, Aleutian in 2010) so I'm getting pretty worked up about it. Terns are a big deal.  They are aesthetically pleasing, highly migratory, prone to vagrancy, and often offer a worthy ID challenge.  Many species are stunning, even while still comfortably constrained by The Economy of Style.  In anticipation and celebration of this event, I'm going to post a suite of other terns that have improved my life in myriad ways.

My experiences with Black Noddy, on the other hand, have not been similar.  They look at you from trees and don't want to be near you.  Although I saw many, many Black Noddies while out at Midway, this was the one and only really approachable individual I found...which I am grateful for, because it chose the perfect perch and perfect background. Note the longer, more slender bill in comparison to Brown Noddy.

Sooty Terns sure do get around...around the world, that is.  It's one of two tern species I've seen on the east coast, west coast, and Hawaiian Islands (Least Tern being the other).  This bird was (still is?) part of the colony on Eastern Island at Midway Atoll.

Ahhh, my last life tern, and what a sweet lifer it was.  Before seeing them I was always confounded about how these could be told from Grey-backed Terns (which do have some range overlap in the South Pacific), but I can see a difference now. This Bridled Tern was photographed off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina.

Grey-backed Terns are sweet birds...they sometimes nest in the same places as Sooty Terns, but are always less abundant and less annoying (Sooty colonies are loud and intense).  I've always considered them the luxury car of terns, although I don't know why and that probably doesn't make sense to anyone else.  Note the finer bill and paler back than the Bridled Tern above; Grey-backed also has less black in the primaries when seen from below. Photographed at Midway Atoll.

Least Terns and I go way back...they are one of the handful of birds that I remember well from those dark ages of before I was a birder.  I worked with these birds a lot in San Diego a couple years ago, unfortunately all of their breeding colonies fared horribly and it was kind of depressing (colonies up and down California failed that year).  Photographed in Escondido, CA.

As far as photography goes, shooting feeding terns never gets old.  Here is a Forster's Tern, mid-plunge. Photographed at the Tijuana River Estuary, CA.

Though shackled with a...common...yet horrible name, Common Tern is always a bird we enjoy seeing in California.  Rarely common, we most often find them during fall migration at the Salton Sea, coastal wetlands and well offshore, in the realm of Arctic Terns.  You would not expect to find a bird from the Canadian prairie far out at sea, but luckily birds have a habit of defying birder expectations.  Photographed at Ormond Beach, CA.

Arctic Terns are tantalizing.  Unless you are lucky enough to bird where they breed, they always seem so...ephemeral.  Uncommon off California during fall, they are never really dependable on pelagic trips, and sightings are usually brief and of poor to mediocre quality. I want to see more. Photographed off Bodega Bay, CA.

I first met Sandwich Tern at Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve (in Orange County, CA) back in the mid 90's when one had teamed up with an Elegant Tern to make hybrids.  It would be over 10 years before I saw another, but now we make sure to eyeball each other with more regularity. Photographed at the Dry Tortugas, FL.

Elegant Terns are a common sight up and down California in summer and fall.  As breeders, they have increased in the state over the years, forming colonies in San Diego, Orange and most recently Los Angeles Counties...no minor achievement, considering how few breeding colonies there are in the world.  Photographed at Half Moon Bay, CA.

Unlike on the Atlantic coast, Royal Terns do not venture very far northward; they are a rare bird away from southern California.  Despite frequently associating with Elegant Terns (which provide great comparisons), they are often misidentified...but such is the fate of many terns South Padre Island, TX.

For the world's biggest tern, you would think Caspian Terns would have some different behaviors from the rest of the family...but aside from monstrous vocalizations, they are pretty similar.  Fortunately, those horrible calls are quite charming.  Photographed at South Padre Island, TX.

Gull-billed Terns, on the other hand, know how to stand apart.  Gull-billed Terns are just as content foraging for horned lizards in the sand dunes as they are fish in the surf line.  They hunt bird eggs and chicks, and will get mobbed by other tern species.  They are everything Caspian Terns wish they could be, all while carrying themselves with a certain grace and elegance. Photographed at the Tijuana River Estuary.

Black Terns have always been there for me.  Back when I started birding, a Black Tern was one of the first Vague Runts I ever saw (at the Ventura Water Treatment Plant, if you must know). They are always there for me at the Salton Sea in the summer.  When I needed them most (for lack of humanity to spend time with), they were there in the greatest of numbers in North Dakota.  I would be lying if I said I wasn't dying to see their Vague Runt brethren, White-winged Tern, but until I do Black Terns will continue to validate my existence.  Photographed at Lostwood NWR, North Dakota.

White Tern is a singular bird...there's nothing quite like them. They nest pretty much anywhere that isn't the ground, just plop out an egg where hopefully the chick won't be too exposed to the weather. They are tame. They come hover next to your head as you walk by their perch. If you haven't seen one, they are your favorite bird waiting to happen. Photographed at Midway Atoll.

Last but not Least Tern, I finally give you a stupid tern pun and offer you an honorary tern, a Black Skimmer. Skimmers look great on the wing, but they always look so grumpy at rest. Maybe if no one could tell that I had eyeballs, I would seem grumpy too.  Photographed at South Padre Island, TX.

Ternover: Your May Quiz Answer

Sandwich Tern. Note that the outer retrices, while not of Barn Swallow proportions, are significantly longer than the rest of the tail. Dry Tortugas National Park, FL.

Time for the quiz answer! What quiz? This quiz! We had guesses for Caspian, White, Royal and Gull-billed...so let's cut to the chase.

First, the bird is obviously a tern. What else would it be? 

Since I am the Number 7 birder in the United States (as opposed to the galaxy), you could probably deduce that I wasn't going to be a total ass and pick some tern from India to show you...so if you could figure out this was a tern, you are familiar with the playing field. So what should we start looking at?

Caspian Tern. Terns are not supposed to be ugly, but nobody told this beast. Poe Road, south end of the Salton Sea, CA.

There are three things to look at in the quiz photo: tail shape, wing pattern and foot color. Anything about structure is subtle at best, given the unusual pose and lack of a head to complete the picture. So what do we have? A tern with black feet, a narrow edging of black on the primaries, and a very short tail.

The black in the wings immediately eliminates White Tern from the field of candidates, and the lack of extensive black patches in the primaries quickly eliminates Caspian Tern as well. Least Tern has black along the leading edge of the wing, and Forster's/Common/Arctic/Roseate all have longer tails. Sandwich Tern would be a good fit, but the tail is too short even for that species.

Royal Tern. That's a pretty short tail...but also strongly forked. Border Field State Park, CA.

Royal Tern. This young bird does not have completely haggard flight feathers, but it does have distinct pale inner webs to the primaries, unique to juveniles of this species. Dry Tortugas National Park. 

So how about Royal Tern? It's a bird that can have black feet, limited black on the underwing and a short tail. A damn good guess, I reckon.

While Royal Tern is an excellent guess...its wrong! The tail of our quiz bird is simply too short and shallowly forked. What ABA Area tern has a tail like that? Gull-billed, of course.

Gull-billed Tern is the correct answer to this month's photo quiz...props to Carrie and Taxman for giving the correct answers. These Gull-billed Terns were photographed at the Tijuana River Mouth, Imperial Beach, CA.

Although details are scant, the San Diego Bay Gull-billed Tern population (which the above birds are/were a part of) is undergoing "a significant mortality event"...in other words, tons of them are dying, and for no obvious reason. Considering how rad these birds are, and the very small population these birds have in the western U.S., let's hope we get some answers soon.

In slightly better news, you can actually find Gull-billed Terns in India. Gotcha!

Salton Birdscapes

From left to right: Semipalmated Sandpiper, Western Sandpiper, Wilson's Phalarope. The sandpipers would frequently fight over a desired piece of mudflat, while the phalarope would referee.

When discussing birding the Salton Sea with nonlocal birders, a common response is wide eyes, a slack jaw, and incoherent jabber about bird-related jealousy. This routine typically winds up with "I've been meaning to go there for years now" or "I would kill 6 infant children with a hammer for the opportunity to bird the Salton Sea".

The fact is that you don't need to be a high-ranking power-birder, or murderer, to get access to the sea. It's right there, waiting to be birded. But with (generally) retreating water levels and ongoing salinity increases, its unclear how long it will remain the hotspot that it is. What are you waiting for?

Aside from the quality of birds there and high vagrant potential, the sheer numbers of birds there is a spectacle in and of itself, which I guess will serve as a loose theme for today's photos.

American White Pelicans. Lots of them. Photographed at the west end of Bowles Road.

Yellow-footed Gulls and Snowy Egrets. Interestingly, the bird on the right is much smaller-billed in comparison to the others...I'm not sure what to make of that. South end of the Salton Sea.

Tens of thousands of birds. West end of Bowles Road.

Staggering numbers...the mind reels. Bowles Road.

A Stilt Sandpiper shuns its comparatively abundant dowitcher bretheren. The Salton Sea is the best place on the Pacific Flyway (at least, in the Lower 48) to find this species in numbers. Bowles Road.

The sea is saturated with Black-necked Stilts. Wister Unit of Sonny Bono Salton Sea NWR.

American White Pelicans and Snowy Egrets. West end of Young Road.

This is a classic Imperial Valley scene. White-faced Ibis, alfalfa fields, geothermal power plant, bleak martian landscape in the distance.

This Black Tern formation looked like they were trying to tell me something. Stay positive? Photographed from the north end of Garst Road.

Black Terns and assorted shorebirds litter the mudflats. North end of Garst Road.

A big group of Gull-billed Terns. Look carefully and you may be able to pick out some Stilt Sandpipers in with the dowitchers. In fact, you are not allowed to look away from this photo until you do. West end of Bowles Road.

Not a good picture, but the cormorant on the right is a Neotropic Cormorant, one of 2 that I oogled  and ogled that day. This olivaceous shag is a very rare bird in California, but the Imperial Valley is a great place to look for them. South end of the Salton Sea.

Van Rossem's Gull-billed Tern

Now that I am no longer a servant of Least Terns (whose eggs and chicks are prey for Gull-billed Terns), I can now come out publicly and say that I'm a big proponent of Gull-billed Terns.

For many years I only saw them infrequently...it wasn't until taking a job near California's Salton Sea in 2007 that I saw them on the regular. They stood out in stark contrast to their bizarre, often disgusting surroundings; this incongruity made me pay special attention to them.


Aside from skimmers, Gull-billeds are pretty unique for a tern...you can find them hunting for insects, amphibians, reptiles, crustaceans, fish, bird eggs and young...they are truly opportunistic.

Gull-billed Terns are cosmopolitan, and found on multiple continents. In California, the local subspecies is Van Rossem's Gull-billed Tern, whose global population is thought to be around only 800 pairs. Despite this worrisome number, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently declined to add them to the Endangered Species List.

The good news is that while the Salton Sea population has been more or less stable over the last couple of decades, the San Diego population is slowly increasing.



What a slick-looking bird. Economy of style in full effect.

Along the shores of Imperial Beach, Gull-billed Terns specialize on grabbing mole crabs (aka "sand crabs") from a few inches of water, when the tide is right. When the tide isn't conducive to mole-crabbing, Gull-billeds may instead focus on terrestrial prey like lizards and bird chicks and eggs.

While normally devoured on the wing, they will occasionally land to take the time to properly demolish and choke down big ones.

Here's a juvenile. Note the marked "flag" dangling from its ankle. This population, which nests in the Salt Works of South San Diego Bay, hosts a number of birds with metal bands, field-readable flags, and even radio transmitters.

All of the photos here were taken between the mouth of the Tijuana River and Imperial Beach, CA.

The Shorebird With A Heart Of Gold

Gull-billed Terns are no longer as clean cut as they were earlier in the spring. Making babies is rough...at least they aren't going bald yet. Imperial Beach, CA.

How you doing birders? Is everything ok? I hope all you bourboners, bastards and birders are keeping your heads up. Its a mad world out there people. I'm really looking forward to taking up my Perpetual Weekend once again...it keeps me sane. I have tried working year round...I don't know how ya'll do it. Seems like a pretty soulless endeavor. But then again, the world is filled with people who are absolutely terrified to be forced to spend time alone, so I suppose its not so shocking.

Whats new on the California birding front? Not much. A couple pelagic trips went out last weekend and were pretty boring. One got a Red-billed Tropicbird (rare, but not unexpected), but happy birders weren't so happy when the boat broke down for several hours. How embarrassing. A White-eyed Vireo at the Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery arrived at a strange time, and appeared to have been a one day wonder.

Shorebirds continue to make their way down the coast, the best of which is a Little Stint that arrived in Humboldt County yesterday...this is the second in the state this year, and I continue to sacrifice puppies, kittens and small bunnies to the bird gods in hopes that I will be able to pluck one from a flock (with my eyes, not literally) here in San Diego. I'd be happy with a Semipalmated Sandpiper though.

I was able to see the Imperial Beach Curlew Sandpiper one more time this month, and got some considerably better looks at the bird. It's still a bland looking thing, but when it comes to shorebirds you have to get stoked on the subtleties. Here it is communicating telepathically with a dowitcher ("Are you an Asiatic Dowitcher? How the fuck do you get to China from here? I tried to go a few weeks ago but somehow ended up at Sea World. That place is fucked up."). Imperial Beach, CA.

One thing the Curlew Sandpiper did that set it apart from other shorebirds was seek out broken stalks of plants, and then jam its bill down inside of it looking for invertebrate goodness. It did this on the regular...here it is about to take the plunge.

Such a good bird. It should be called the Golden-hearted Sandpiper.

This Willet in summer duds accentuated by a long, flowing, kelp robe, was at Border Field State Park, CA.

We need a token passerine in today's post. This is a Bushtit. They are highly-skilled at fluffing and hate-looks. Famosa Slough, San Diego, CA.

Less well known than fence lizards, Side-blotched Lizards aren't any less common in a lot of habitats in California. I don't know much about their variation in coloration, but I am partial to these turqoise-spotted duders. Border Field State Park, CA.

Pondering Death From Above, aka Gull-billed Terns. Gull-bills love eating these things.

This is what a monstrosity looks like. If it could make noise, it would sound like "blllllleeeeennnngghhhhhh. BLLLLLEEEENNNNGUH. BIGLENGUHHHHH".

This monstrous dead crab washed ashore at Imperial Beach, CA. Nerds of the marine persuasion, feel free to tell us what this is.

Heermann's Gulls are a fixture along west coast shores for much of the year, making amateur seawatchers think they're seeing jaegers from Mexico to British Columbia. When they look like this, it's hard to confuse them with anything else though. Border Field State Park, CA.