Thanks to everyone who has commented to me about this bird so far--your contributions are very welcome.
Julian Hough sent me the following, with permission to post to the list: I just recently saw photos of a bird at Minsmere, Suffolk, UK of a probable longipennis Common Tern. A striking looking bird, this one with a slightly shorter bill, but I agree that in the field their bills look similar in length to hirundo. Longipennis records from Europe were non-existent until recently. There was a recent record from the Black Sea coast of Turkey last (?) spring which was the first record, but by coincidence I and several others saw three apparent adult longipennis in the same area of Turkey back in ‘89. The significance of that record is just being realized with the report of the recent Turkish individual and if accepted, would pre-date that occurrence by 2 decades! The bill color and extensive grey suffusion to the underparts and blackish legs of your bird all seem to fit with the descriptions of longipennis. I have seen longipennis in China and although I’ve not studied them ad nauseum, I agree that your bird and the UK bird are good candidates. The birds I recall from China had a darker trailing edge to the underwing, along the inner secondaries, that seemed to stand out more than on hirundo, although this could be down to lighting. I’ll have to check notes, but I think I recall some birds also showed some red at the base of their bills? I wasn’t aware of the tail pattern differences. The pitfalls are those dark-billed Common Terns, but they typically show reddish feet and the dark-billed birds are often the whitest below due to wear. It would be interesting to know what the status is of this race in the US since it may help form more of a pattern and help with their separation from similar-looking darker-billed hirundo. I think also Mike O’Brien had a similar bird at Stone Harbor point, NJ several years ago. A cool set of shots! Julian Hough, CT, USA ________________________________ From: bounce-37742728-11143...@list.cornell.edu [bounce-37742728-11143...@list.cornell.edu] on behalf of Shaibal Mitra [shaibal.mi...@csi.cuny.edu] Sent: Monday, June 27, 2011 11:43 AM To: NYSBIRDS (NYSBIRDS-L@cornell.edu) Subject: [nysbirds-l] Possible Siberian Common Tern (S. h. longipennis) on Long Island A second-summer type Common Tern present at Cupsogue, just east of Moriches Inlet, last weekend (25-26 June) resembled the Siberian subspecies of Common Tern (Sterna hirundo longipennis): Bill black, with a slight red tinge Legs dark reddish-black Ventral body deeply gray, especially for a second-summer type individual Wings appeared relatively long both at rest and in flight Its wingtip pattern also differed from the typical summer pattern of local Common Terns in that all the primaries (except perhaps p10) appeared uniformly fresh and pale, but it is not very unusual for non-adults to vary in this regard. In my experience, however, it is extremely rare to see such dark legs on any early summer Common Tern (even first summer birds), and it is also extremely rare to see an all-dark bill in combination with deeply gray underparts, at least prior to very late summer. Photos of this bird can be seen at: https://picasaweb.google.com/tixbirdz/PossibleSiberianCommonTernSHLongipennisOnLongIslandNY Some representative photos of second-summer type Common Terns can be seen at: https://picasaweb.google.com/tixbirdz/CommonTernsOnLongIsland# I've never seen longipennis in its core range and am unfamiliar with how to assess other published characters, such as its whiter inner rectrices and subtly different tertials, but the photos might help here (even its second-to-outermost rectrices appeared less extensively dark in the field than in many local Common Terns). Longipennis is said to have a shorter bill than hirundo, but this bird's bill looked pretty similar in size to those of local birds. I'm calling this bird a second-summer type because its forehead and its gray underbody were mottled to varying degrees with white. I first noticed it on Saturday but I was not able to get good photos. It was present again on Sunday and studied by at least 19 observers. 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