In addition to the difference in relative bill length and depth, notice the much thicker legs of Royal Tern. In winter plumage Royal usually has the eye surrounded by white.
>There were two terns on Main Beach mid-morning today. Both looked similar >size and build. But maybe one was 5-10% larger. But that apparent size >difference may have been posture related. > >Extent of white on forehead and black on nape was similar. Black on nape >extended to the eye in a narrow band. Both had stout bills with the >gonydeal angle 1/3 from the tip. Both birds had uniform bill color that did >not transition to a noticeably lighter color at the tip. They both had >clean white breasts And dark primaries. Neither had the long shaggy crests >I associate with Elegant terms but these were young birds so maybe not >fully mulleted yet. the bill did taper more than I expect for a Royal Tern >but only slightly. The size was hard to judge against the CAGU and WEGU >nearby. But was bigger than I expect for ELTE and smaller than I expect for >ROYT but I have not studied them extensively when I do not have both >species side by side. > >Both birds are in the first winter plumage indicated by the dark centers to >the tercials. it must be noted that orange billed terns often continue to >grow their bill into their second summer so the shortness of the bill might >be age related. > >Theresa two birds did not want to roost together and even though they >flushed several times they always landed in different parts of the gull >flock. > >So looking at the pictures I took we either had two Royals or two Elegants > >iNat IDed 10 of my 13 pictures as Royal, 1 as Elegant and 2 to the genus. >Merlin suggested Royal for several pictures even when cropping out the >head, or only doing the bill or the head with out the bill. 8 on my >pictures were of one bird and 5 were from another. > >Bird 1 >https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/347054599 > >Bird 2 >https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/347054786 > >Happy to have the pros weigh in. Also if you reply please do so to the >entire list so we all can learn something!! > >-Abram > >Sent from my phone > > >On Fri, Apr 3, 2026 at 11:22 Michael Bolte <mjbolte...> wrote: > >> I think it is pretty clearly a Royal Tern. Here is the San Lorenzo bird >> and a Royal and Elegant from on line. The bill of the San Lo bird is heavy, >> has only a small downward curve and about the length of his head. Elegant >> turn bills are thinner, more curved and about 50% longer than the length of >> the head. >> >> >> >> On Fri, Apr 3, 2026 at 9:06?AM Abram Fleishman <abfleishman...> >> wrote: >> >>> The ROTE is foraging between the SC harbor and the Wharf night now >>> >>> -Abram >>> >>> Sent from my phone >>> >>> >>> On Thu, Apr 2, 2026 at 17:18 'Jonathan Wahl' via mbbirds < >>> <mbbirds...> wrote: >>> >>>> I think the bird is at the river mouth right now. >>>> >>>> [image: image0.jpeg] >>>> >>>> >>>> On Apr 2, 2026, at 12:09?PM, <kyansr......> <kyansrussell...> >>>> wrote: >>>> >>>> ?Just the messenger - I noticed this observation of a Royal Tern on >>>> iNaturalist >>>> >>>> https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/346709286 >>>> >>>> Cheers, >>>> Kai >>>> >>>> -- >>>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google >>>> Groups "mbbirds" group. >>>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send >>>> an email to mbbirds+<unsubscribe...> >>>> To view this discussion visit >>>> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/mbbirds/<b8c8fc18-b9bd-4301-918f-9a68b1a84035n...> >>>> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/mbbirds/<b8c8fc18-b9bd-4301-918f-9a68b1a84035n...>?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> >>>> . >>>> >>>> -- >>>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google >>>> Groups "mbbirds" group. >>>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send >>>> an email to mbbirds+<unsubscribe...> >>>> To view this discussion visit >>>> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/mbbirds/<2767E04A-4D03-47A6-8DC5-08981C9FA0F8...> >>>> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/mbbirds/<2767E04A-4D03-47A6-8DC5-08981C9FA0F8...>?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> >>>> . >>>> >>> -- >>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >>> "mbbirds" group. >>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >>> email to mbbirds+<unsubscribe...> >>> >> To view this discussion visit >>> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/mbbirds/CAH5dYzi%<3DpRMOwkr-uBJGqrHQQteSTBVro2jEaApYATv9hXW-Mw...> >>> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/mbbirds/CAH5dYzi%<3DpRMOwkr-uBJGqrHQQteSTBVro2jEaApYATv9hXW-Mw...>?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> >>> . >>> >> -- Joseph Morlan, Pacifica, CA
