This is Bill Watson's report. Relocating this bird would be awesome. I may be wrong but I believe that Elegant Tern has only been documented on the Atlantic seaboard once and never on the Great Lakes. Mark Cranford
Posting for Bill Watson [EMAIL PROTECTED] Very strong west wind blew this bird to the eastern most end of Lake Erie, but it could show up other places on the lake. An Elegant Tern was seen by me from about 3:55 to 4:10 PM today at Woodlawn Beach State Park along the Lake Erie Shore. The bird was lying on the beach and allowed very close approach after initially flushing. Woodlawn is in Hamburg, NY south of Buffalo. Coming from the I-90 take the I-290 to the I-190 south and in Buffalo exit at the Skyway (Route 5). Travel about 10 miles south to the Woodlawn Beach exit to The Woodlawn Beach parking lot. Walk east to the beach and then north for about half a mile. There you will come to a creek flowing into Lake Erie. The bird was last seen about 100 yards south of the creek. It was not found again between 4:20 and 5:10. Here is a partial unedited description: I was looking for Jaegers at Woodlawn Beach S. P. when a flushed Tern caught my eye. The bird flew away and as it landed disappeared. After some searching I found the bird behind a drift wood log. I studied the bird with my spotting moving closer and closer until I was only 20 feet away at 45X. The bird was only well studied at rest. I was hoping to see the forked tail and upper and lower wing pattern in flight but the bird would not flush again. I was very confused. The Tern looked larger than a Common Tern or Forester's Tern, but smaller than a Caspian Tern. Its head was proportionally larger than a Common or Forester's Tern when compared to it body. Its bill was confusing to me, and did not match any Tern I am familiar with. It was more red (70%) than orange (30%). The distal quarter of the bill gradually became lighter and more orange. I looked for wear on the bill tip, but did not see any. The bill looked very narrow proportionally as narrow as that of a Common Tern, but actually and proportionally much longer. When compared to a head diameter in profile (not including the bill) the bill looked about equal or nearly equal to a head diameter as best I could estimate in the field. Most unusual was the gradual down curve to the bill. Even the lower mandible looked down curved, but this may have been due to fact I was looking down at the bird. The forehead and forcrown (including the mid crown) were white. There was a small black spot near the dorsal bill's base and few other small spots in the white near the black. The hind crown and nape were black. I looked for and could not see any white between the gray of the back and the black of the hind cap, nape and hind neck. The mantle and upper wings were light gray. The dorsal surface of the closer primaries were gray and darker than the gray on the back. Thin light edging could be seen on four of the feathers. The ventral surface of the far wing was a lighter gray than the dorsal surface of the near wing. The white tail was a quarter to nearly a half of an inch shorter in length then the wing tips. Bill Watson Tonawanda, NY [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- Mark Cranford ONTBIRDS Coordinator Mississauga, Ontario [EMAIL PROTECTED] 905 279 9576 Mark Cranford <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Visit http://www.ofo.ca/ontbirdsguide.htm for information on leaving and joining the list. As well as general information and content guidelines.
