This afternoon, Lynne Douglas, our indefatigable finder-of-things-unusual, found a Crested Tern hunkered down among a flock of 15 or so White-fronted Terns on the North Mole breakwater at the mouth of the Whanganui R. A westerly gale was blowing at the time (Met Service were recording sustained gusts up to 65 kph), so the birds weren't going anywhere. She contacted me and together we identified it as a Crested Tern. Conditions for viewing the bird through binoculars and making notes were dire, but we both were able to get reasonable photographs of the bird. From these, it looks to be a first-year bird, with faint traces of its juvenile plumage visible on its back. No doubt it has ended up here on the tail of the sustained north-westerly airflow from Australia that has persisted for the past week or more. There may be other unusual 'Aussies' out there.
- Crested Tern sheltering from a strong gale on the North Mole, Whanganui R mouth.
Paul Gibson also photographed it, so no doubt he'll upload better pictures than this one. We'll be submitting a UBR.
All the best,
Peter
