All, Thanks David for getting the word out. I originally found this Tern this past Thursday and based on some blurry photos that I was convinced showed dark secondaries that would have made it a Common Tern not an Arctic Tern. It was certainly short-legged and shorter-billed but thought being a young bird and getting dark outside that I'd stick with that ID until better photos were procured. I finally got convincing (to my birdbrain) photos that show clean, white secondaries that tipped the scales for me on the ID. I believe the dark secondaries I was seeing was nothing more than dark, negative space between the feathers. A lot of field marks go blurry when birds are far away! But big shoutout to Nick Komar who just would not let up on this bird and sent what decent photos he had out to the greater birding minds amongst us to get feedback. The bird has been most often seen on the spit in the southwest corner of the reservoir. Horseshoe Lake is accessible on that southwest corner if you park on 41st Street and cross Monroe. This bird has already been seen by many so hopefully it will stick for a few more days. Moral of the story I guess is that it's ok to report Sterna sp first and get better pics. I will add a bunch of pics but a few of them can be found on this checklist:
https://ebird.org/checklist/S96706316 Bird is the word! Josh Bruening Fort Collins On Monday, October 25, 2021 at 4:46:31 PM UTC-6 davidto...@gmail.com wrote: > Hi all, > > I was asked to post here that the bird thus far being reported as a Common > Tern at Horseshoe Lake in Larimer County is in fact a (hatch-year) Arctic > Tern. I am not the first to ID it as such, and I believe (correct if wrong) > Josh Bruening is the original finder. > > Here is a list with pics. > https://ebird.org/checklist/S96693524?view=photos > > > > Best, > > David Tonnessen > > > -- -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group. To post to this group, send email to cobirds@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/cobirds?hl=en?hl=en * All posts should be signed with the poster's full name and city. Include bird species and location in the subject line when appropriate * Join Colorado Field Ornithologists https://cobirds.org/CFO/Membership/ --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to cobirds+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/5780cb3c-df1d-49b9-a2bb-60aa3b4b34f4n%40googlegroups.com.
