Date: 4/3/26 7:04 pm From: David Sidle <dsidle...> Subject: Re: [MBBIRDS] Royal Tern San Lorenzo River Mouth April 1
Royal Tern is resting on Main Beach with gull flock opposite the highest peak of the Giant Dipper. Could be scopable from overlook.
David Sidle 7:03pn
Sent from Samsung Galaxy smartphone. Get Outlook for Android<https://aka.ms/AAb9ysg> ________________________________ From: <mbbirds...> <mbbirds...> on behalf of Joseph Morlan <jmorlan...> Sent: Friday, April 3, 2026 2:43:53 PM To: Abram Fleishman <abfleishman...> Cc: Michael Bolte <mjbolte...>; Jonathan Wahl <jonny_wahl...>; <kyansr......> <kyansrussell...>; mbbirds <mbbirds...> Subject: Re: [MBBIRDS] Royal Tern San Lorenzo River Mouth April 1
Here is an image showing the differences between Elegant and Royal Terns.
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
