365 Project, Day 120
Here is my day 120 submission to my 365Project:
We've been seeing quite a few terns fly past us out here but usually they are too far to get a positive identification. We have mostly been seeing (or positively identifying!) Common terns (Sterna hirundo) but, according to my bird ID guide (Birds of Africa South of the Sahara - a great ID guide covering most of Africa!) we should also be seeing Arctic terns here. So, many of the terns we've been seeing flying past us have only been recorded as unidentified terns since it has been too difficult to see ID features and confirm which species we are seeing.
Fortunately, I finally got decent enough photos of this tern that I was able to identify it as an Arctic tern (Sterna paradisaea)
Fun fact of the day:
Many Arctic terns will migrate from the Arctic summer breeding grounds to the Antarctic for a 'second summer'. This migration is the farthest annual journey of any bird with birds traveling 40, 000 km (25, 000 mi)!
Read more about Arctic terns at Animal Diversity Web and Cornell Lab of Ornithology's All About Birds webpage.
We've been seeing quite a few terns fly past us out here but usually they are too far to get a positive identification. We have mostly been seeing (or positively identifying!) Common terns (Sterna hirundo) but, according to my bird ID guide (Birds of Africa South of the Sahara - a great ID guide covering most of Africa!) we should also be seeing Arctic terns here. So, many of the terns we've been seeing flying past us have only been recorded as unidentified terns since it has been too difficult to see ID features and confirm which species we are seeing.
Fortunately, I finally got decent enough photos of this tern that I was able to identify it as an Arctic tern (Sterna paradisaea)
Fun fact of the day:
Many Arctic terns will migrate from the Arctic summer breeding grounds to the Antarctic for a 'second summer'. This migration is the farthest annual journey of any bird with birds traveling 40, 000 km (25, 000 mi)!
Read more about Arctic terns at Animal Diversity Web and Cornell Lab of Ornithology's All About Birds webpage.
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