The Lincolnshire Bird Club

My last post should have read Common not Black Tern.
Appologies to all.

Record photo of bird posted in Discussion Birds section for comment.

Richard.

Richard. Your photo in the discussion album appears to show a Common on left and an Arctic Tern on right. It's bill doesn't look black but more blood red to me.

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http://birdmanbirds.blogspot.com/

Couldn't find the photo but the bird I was watching definitely had a complete black bill and the variation of the head pattern. It definitely had the same length legs etc as the other common terns.

I have also had a look through the pictures I took that afternoon, but cannot help. Mel is right in that there was certainly a common tern with an all black bill on the island. Time was tight and I was more focused on the two arctic terns that were with it and the row of 6 black terns which at that time were sitting in front of it. I bow to his superior knowledge of variants. It was certainly there, and also not a "regulation" common tern. Interesting.

Paul

Terns of course have black bills in winter and some appear not to have attained summer colour by their arrival here, noted on some of the Arctics last week. There is nothing in the photo to suggest features of longipennis from what I can see here.