Date: Sat, 19 Jul 2003 14:47:17 -0400 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Scott Crabtree Subject: Caspian Tern - Adult and Juv. at Skimmer Island MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable At 9:00 Saturday morning, 19 July, Louise and I saw a Caspian Tern adult = with a juvenile/chick at Skimmer Island in Ocean City. We were at the = west end of the US 50 bridge crossing Sinepuxent Bay, looking north at = the island. The closest birds to us were the CATEs. The tern was easily identifiable with the good view though the 20X Nikon = scope. The adult appeared 25% larger and heavier than the surrounding = Royal Terns, with the heavy, blood-red bill, and full black cap that = lacked the dorsal tufts - both features that differed from the black-cap = markings of the Royals. The juvenile was begging from the adult, = although I never saw it fed in the 20 minutes of observation, and it too = had the heavier, more red bill. Its back was heavily checkered with = brown, and it had that truncated, short-tailed look of a bird recently = fledged. Checking the Yellow Book and the Breeding Bird Atlas, I noted that CATE = hasn't been recorded as breeding in MD. Before I jump to the conclusion = that CATEs are possibly nesting in the Skimmer Island tern colony, are = there any records of very young juvenile CATEs in that region at this = time of year? Scott Crabtree Chester, MD crabtree@myshorelink.com =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D =========================================================================