Hello fellow birders!!! The winter birds are definitely coming in. One of which is the Royal Tern. In the picture I saw that he has some "bling" on his ankle! I didn't notice it until I was trying to upload the picture to this blog. That means he must have been tagged to help with research on the breed or migratory patterns. It would be interesting to find out so if anyone reading this knows about that please let me know! It would be fascinating to find out who tagged him and why! Unfortunately for whatever reason I am not able to upload the picture. I don't know why since obviously I've done it many times before. Does anyone know why? Anywho....
The Royal Tern migrates to Florida during the winter and I've seen them usually on the beach hanging out with all the other winter birds. So far I've only seen one in each group of seagulls and other shorebirds. I'm not sure if this is coincidence because it is still early in our winter season or if they are not particular to which breed of bird they hang out with.
Another thing to note about this bird is to not confuse it with the Caspian Tern. I at first thought it was a Caspian Tern until I looked further and found out it is actually a Royal Tern. They look very similar but the beak has a slightly different coloring. The Caspian Tern has a bigger beak and it is more red orange with a little black at the tip. The Royal Tern's beak is more yellow orange. Also the head feathers are slightly different. The Caspian Tern's top of it's head is almost solid black, while the Royal Tern's head has more white except for the black tuft at the back of it's head.
On a side note I have recently become employed again!!! It's such a blessing but will also mean my posts will not be as frequent. However my new job is partially outside so you know what that means??? Chances to still squeeze in some birding of course!!! LOL! Hopefully some day I will find a way to make birds part of my career but for now I'm so happy to be employed again. So happy birding and hope y'all have a great weekend :)
