White Winged Black Tern at Cass River, Tekapo
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White Winged Black Tern at Cass River, Tekapo
Was at the Cass river(flows into Lake Tekapo) today and saw a tern that looked identical to the other Black Fronted Terns except that is was mostly black.
Last edited by Bennyboy87654 on Sat Dec 02, 2017 4:55 pm, edited 1 time in total.
- George Hobson
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Re: Black Fronted Tern Colour Morph
Isn't that a White-winged Black Tern?
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- Oscar Thomas
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Re: Black Fronted Tern Colour Morph
Yep. Amazingly photo Ben, they aren’t often seen, and certainly not in breeding plumage.
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Re: Black Fronted Tern Colour Morph
It would be good to amend the title of this thread to "White-winged Black Tern, Cass River".
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Re: White Winged Black Tern at Cass River, Tekapo
They are probably annual in the area but overlooked in non breeding plumage. There is one previous breeding record in thd MacKenzie country of this our rarest breeding tern.
- David Riddell
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Re: White Winged Black Tern at Cass River, Tekapo
Hi David
I looked at that also, but interpreted it as a Uropetala dragonfly - which would be a sufficiently large prey item that the bird would probably need to land to consume it (i.e. it could not be interpreted as a bird carrying food to a chick, without more information on how the bird was behaving).
Cheers
Coliin
I looked at that also, but interpreted it as a Uropetala dragonfly - which would be a sufficiently large prey item that the bird would probably need to land to consume it (i.e. it could not be interpreted as a bird carrying food to a chick, without more information on how the bird was behaving).
Cheers
Coliin
- David Riddell
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Re: White Winged Black Tern at Cass River, Tekapo
Yes Colin, now that I look again you might be right.
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Re: White Winged Black Tern at Cass River, Tekapo
Carrying a dragonfly to its chick ???
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Re: White Winged Black Tern at Cass River, Tekapo
Hi all
The WWBT was present yesterday around midday.
It was in the middle of a huge Black-fronted Tern colony, which appeared to be really successful with lots of juvenile birds there.
Although it is possible that there is a pair of WWBTs, we only saw one individual.
Cheers
The WWBT was present yesterday around midday.
It was in the middle of a huge Black-fronted Tern colony, which appeared to be really successful with lots of juvenile birds there.
Although it is possible that there is a pair of WWBTs, we only saw one individual.
Cheers