Saturday 30 April 2011

One good tern…

…deserves several more. Following on from yesterday’s Royal extravaganza, here are some more Texan terns. First up, something familiar from home: Sandwich Terns.

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Another familiar bird from Europe, but one I wasn’t really expecting to see in good numbers on the coast: we came across several groups of 50+ Black Terns, pausing on their northward migration. Individual birds could be found in just about any state of moult between full winter and full summer plumage… this one is at the former end of the scale.

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We also came across a few Least Terns, with birds showing particularly well off the jetty at Quintana. The light was very harsh during the middle of the day, which made it difficult to get good sharp photos, especially of predominantly white birds!

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And finally, something very unfamiliar, a bird that I’d been really keen to see: Black Skimmer. They proved to be pretty widespread and easily seen along the coast. The most showy and approachable birds were at Rockport beach, where you can drive alongside them.

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