Everyone patient and curious enough to follow this conversation,
Interestingly, Steve’s bird does like like a different individual from the one
I reported yesterday morning.
https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S46604935
The white forehead speckling on Steve’s photographed bird is more prominent,
the shakiness on the carpal bar seems more pronounced, and the tail streamers
are longer than the wingtips. Yesterday’s bird looked more “mature” and
classically Arctic yet its tail was only about as long the folded wings.
Tripper’s bird from Friday, which to my knowledge was not seen on Saturday,
also has short streamers and looks very similar to the one I documented.
https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S46569053
With the dark-billed youngster from Saturday taken into account, we have quite
a few individual Arctic Terns coming and going from this site alone. That’s to
say nothing of all the other reports up and down the Island in the past few
weeks. I’m personally fascinated by all of this, it seems like we agree always
learning more about the transient terns here. I wasn’t planning on plugging
myself when I jumped in on this conversation, but I did publish a piece about
all of this today.
http://nemesisbird.com/birding/tern-it-up/
Keep on getting out there and scouring the tern flocks, everyone. Methinks
we’re due for another whopper of a surprise.
Cheers!
-Tim H
> On Jun 18, 2018, at 7:40 PM, Andrew Baksh <birdingd...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Hi Tim,
>
> I would be in the ASY camp on this bird as well. Fascinating bird and
> excellent photo from Steve.
>
> Yesterday at Nickerson a group of us had an entirely different bird and I
> thought I had a second bird that looked like this one but could never connect
> with it after my initial observation.
>
> Good to see more folks documenting the Arctic Terns as we will find there are
> more of them moving through now that we have more eyes sifting through the
> flock.
>
> Cheers,
>
> --------
> "I prefer to be true to myself, even at the hazard of incurring the ridicule
> of others, rather than to be false, and to incur my own abhorrence." ~
> Frederick Douglass
>
> 風 Swift as the wind
> 林 Quiet as the forest
> 火 Conquer like the fire
> 山 Steady as the mountain
> Sun Tzu The Art of War
>
>> (\__/)
>> (= '.'=)
>> (") _ (")
>> Sent from somewhere in the field using my mobile device!
>
> Andrew Baksh
> www.birdingdude.blogspot.com
>
>> On Jun 18, 2018, at 7:28 PM, Timothy Healy <tp...@cornell.edu> wrote:
>>
>> This is where many banders and field biologists often use the abbreviations
>> SY and ASY, for second year and after second year. The second year, a.k.a.
>> second summer a.k.a. year old, plumages for many species are pretty
>> definitive, and quite distinct from adults. In the case of COTE and ARTE,
>> birds stay in a plumage that resembles their initial juvenile coloration for
>> their second calendar year. The black-billed, white-foreheaded birds that
>> are so abundant at the beach this season are coming up on a year old. This
>> “imperfect” adult Arctic, with only some smudges, flecks, and short
>> streamers to separate it from a classic mature bird, is probably at least
>> two years old. I certainly don’t think it was born during the last season,
>> which is what I understand makes a second summer bird. It may be in its
>> third summer, or maybe it’s older and just a little funky. I reported it on
>> eBird as ASY, because it is definitely far more progressed than the typical
>> yearling birds loafing around the inlets.
>>
>> Cheers!
>> -Tim H
>>
>>> On Jun 18, 2018, at 7:15 PM, Steve Walter <swalte...@verizon.net> wrote:
>>>
>>> Tim,
>>>
>>> In normal conversation, I typically use the phrase “two year old” for birds
>>> that I suspect were born two summers ago. But as the conversation of recent
>>> days has alluded, there can be adults that for whatever reason, are not
>>> complete. And adult traits may not develop in sync in younger birds.
>>> Looking back at the weekend’s posts, I saw that Pat Lindsay made a point
>>> about her “second summer type” having a black bill. Today’s had a red bill.
>>> So a two year old? Probably. But definitely? Maybe, maybe not. It looks
>>> like it – so “second summer type” works for the public record.
>>>
>>> Steve
>>>
>>>
>>> From: Timothy Healy [mailto:tp...@cornell.edu]
>>> Sent: Monday, June 18, 2018 6:49 PM
>>> To: Steve Walter <swalte...@verizon.net>
>>> Cc: NYSBIRDS <nysbird...@list.cornell.edu>
>>> Subject: Re: [nysbirds-l] Nickerson Beach Arctic Tern and others
>>>
>>> Steve and other sternid enthusiasts,
>>>
>>> Isn’t second summer the term used for the immature aspect birds with white
>>> foreheads and black bills? A freshly fledged juvenile would be living
>>> through its first summer, so second summer individuals are yearlings,
>>> correct? If my understanding of the nomenclature is accurate, the bird I
>>> found yesterday, which matches Steve’s description and the photos of
>>> Tripper’s bird from Friday, would be in its third summer or older. At a
>>> glance it looks like a classic alternate plumage adult ARTE, but the faint
>>> darker smudging on the carpal bar and the tail streamers that don’t extend
>>> beyond the folded wingtips indicate that it is not fully mature. I saw a
>>> similarly marked individual at Nickerson last year, and in 2015 I got a
>>> photo of an adult-like ARTE with a surprisingly dark bill. The variation in
>>> age classes and species of terns is so fascinating. I’ve learned a lot from
>>> these discussions about Arctics, Roseates, and the mysterious dark Commons.
>>> Mornings and afternoons at the colonies and inlets are one of my favorite
>>> parts of early summer here on Long Island.
>>>
>>> Cheers!
>>> -Tim H
>>>
>>> On Jun 18, 2018, at 6:05 PM, Steve Walter <swalte...@verizon.net> wrote:
>>>
>>> Another day, another Arctic Tern at Nickerson Beach. Actually, my first for
>>> the year, and this one had to be waited on. It might have been too foggy in
>>> the morning for it to find land (joke). Interesting bird this one. My tern
>>> guru advises me to call it a “second summer type”. Basically adult looking
>>> with a red bill, but with a carpal bar and speckling on the forehead (not
>>> well visible in the picture I posted). In a similar vein, there was a
>>> Roseate Tern of less than full adult appearance. This bird, and also a full
>>> adult, had readable blue legs bands. Maybe others have seen this, but this
>>> is the first time I’ve seen terns with something more readable in the field
>>> than the metal bands. I’ll reports these (bands B97 and Y11) and find out
>>> more in due time. But perhaps someone on this list might know something
>>> (Joe D?). Also, a Gull-billed Tern flying over the east tern colony around
>>> mid-day. Pictures of the Arctic and Roseates have been added to the bottom
>>> of the Recent Work page at my web site http://stevewalternature.com/ .
>>>
>>> Steve Walter
>>> Bayside, NY
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