After a couple of months of peering closely at mass gathering of Crested Terns for no return, today was payoff day. At the mouth of the Betka River 2 of the Terns were immature White-fronted Terns. A visitor from New Zealand, as are the Hutton's and Fluttering Shearwaters.
Also present was this bird, which I initially thought was just an adult White-fronted Tern. However gurus have commented that it is almost certainly an Arctic Tern, which is very rarely seen from (let alone on) land in Australia.
The first shot gives the size comparison of the Arctic Tern (far right) with Silver Gulls and Crested Terns.
The experts asked for profile shots.
One expert asked for a wing-raising image. This was the closest I got.
On the bank were 2 juvenile Hooded Plovers.
On the subject of the bank, the River has done a good job of cutting in to the bank. As we haven't had much rain this month, I am surprised it is still flowing.
I came close to getting another wing raised shot but unfortunately the bird disappeared behind a gull and was hit by a small wave and disappeared! One interesting element of behaviour was the bird several times picked up a length of kelp stem and waved it around a few times before putting it down.
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