Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Crested Tern EXTRA

Crested Tern EXTRA
(This is so interesting that I couldn't resist using some color to make it eye-catching)
When I posted the photos of the Crested Terns earlier in the week I knew that the birds in breeding plumage at this time of the year did not fit the pattern of what I have seen until now. Crested Terns breed down here approx. Dec-Feb - so what were these two birds doing in breeding plumage at the 'wrong' time of the year? I contacted Jill Dening and asked for her opinion. She contacted others and received back information about a trip made out to the Swain Reefs (out from Mackay) by people from DERM during July 2009. They observed and photographed colonies of Crested Terns nesting and with young at this time. The birds that I observed in breeding plumage out at Inskip Point the other day possibly came from a northern population which breeds at the opposite time of the year from the ones we usually see here in southern Queensland.
Just another small piece of information to add to our current knowledge.

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