My 'normal' hangout on the islands was void of any birdlife the time I was there. Unusually quiet. The only birds I noticed was one lone brown pelican [juvenile I believe] and far in the distance at an unaccessible area, egrets and spoonbills. This week, I ended up at Port Aransas, walking the beach near the South side of the ship channel, along the jetty. I sighted around 50-75 different terns along the shore and most, I admit, were common terns, a few sandwich terns, and young gulls in the mix. But then, I noticed one that was standing out in the crowd; quite different than the rest. It was, I believed at the time, a vagrant [rare in these parts]. Its orange beak was very long and narrow. Unlike any I've seen before. That was the tell-tale sign for me. I followed it with my camera lens to get different angles. When I got home, I did a search and photos of bird species [terns] it is the Elegant Tern. Normally found along the west coast of America, down into Old Mexico and farther south into Peru, as you can see by accessing the habitat map below. It was a new bird to add to my list of sightings!!! That rarely happens these days....
BROWN PELICAN
Habitat map: Pelican
ELEGANT TERN
Habitat map: Tern
LINKING TOOL NOW CLOSED
Congratulations on the new bird!
ReplyDeleteHave a great weekend!
Thanks!
DeleteOops! Anonymous was me - Lea
ReplyDeleteNo problem. I wish Blogger would fix this glitch, tho!
DeleteDear Anni,
ReplyDelete"your" tern looks really elegant with its long beak. I didn't know this species either (but I'm not that good at terns at all. So far I've only seen king terns once in Cuba and once common terns in Mallorca. We don't have them in Austria.) You definitely got great photos of the brown pelican - and I think in the 4th picture it has a fish in its beak, right?
You'll get to see a white stork colony in my blog today :-)
All the best and happy weekend,
Traude
https://rostrose.blogspot.com/2022/09/ausflug-nach-marchegg-schloss-storche.html
Thanks. Your Storks are wonderful.
DeleteThe Brown Pelican was beautiful and you got some amazing photos of it! But of course it is nice to see a few more birds. I'm seeing some different birds this week! YAY!
ReplyDeleteIt's been a long spell since I've seen a new bird!
DeleteGreat shots of the birds. The new one is literally elegant.
ReplyDeleteThanks!!
DeleteElegant shots!
ReplyDelete😊
Deletethe elegant tern is awesome find and beautiful, you know my favorite bird is the pelican and this one could be called Elegant Pelican! the photos are amazing, painted in gold.
ReplyDeleteI know how you like the brown pelican. I always think of you.
DeleteNice "tern" of events during this visit! I might have passed it off as a Royal Tern, but you had a good look at its plumage and flight characteristics and could compare it to the other terns nest to it..
ReplyDeleteUnder Texas EBird (rare birds seen) they have it listed as elegant tern.
DeleteI am not one hundred percent sure, but it looks more like a Royal Tern to me, with a heavier bill than Elegant Tern, a species I have never seen away from the Pacific side of the continent. I have visited a colony near San Diego with a USFWS biologist, and I have seen substantial aggregations in Chile.
ReplyDeleteTexas EBird has it listed as elegant tern
DeleteHello Anni, Sorry I'm late commenting, my computer is having a field day, my comments keep disappearing, and it's taking me twice as long to make a comment. The beautiful photos of the Elegant Tern have stolen the show today. I always think Terns are elegant anyway, but this one
ReplyDeleteis stunning. I also love your Brown Pelican images. In the first shot, I like that little splash of water, and all of them have great reflections.
Phew! So far so good!
Have a great week, and all the best.
It is a long way from home! You sure got some wonderful photos. Of both the birds.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on the new Tern sighting. I love the photos of the Pelican and the Terns! Take care, enjoy your day and the week ahead.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful photos of the pelican and the tern. I like them.
ReplyDelete