At the beginning of my Montgomery Bird Club birdwalk this morning, Lydia Schindler and Linda Friedland looked up.  One of them said she had a gull.  We all looked at it and quickly realized it was a large tern flying south over Picnic Area 17/18.  It continued flying south, out of sight.  The three of us concur that it was large and slim: it had length but not bulk.  The wings and bill both seemed thin.  What I saw of the underwing pattern (with black in a relatively narrow area of the wingtip) and the general shape and proportions of the bird (the tail did not seem as short as a Caspian's ought to be, and the wings and bill were thin), point toward Royal Tern.  They saw the bird for a few seconds longer than I did and are positive that the bird is a Royal Tern.  Right now I am calling it a probable Royal Tern.  The bird was clearly bigger than a Forster's/Common Tern.  We did not note any color on the bill.  It was certainly a surprise!  
 
About half an hour or so later, I looked up and saw another tern, perhaps the same individual, probably the same species, also flying south!  
 
Royal Tern is reported less than annually in DC, normally along the Potomac River.  The only terns I have ever seen from the Picnic Area 17/18 were two groups of Forster's/Common Terns in May 1998 during a morning with intermittent showers, low clouds, and breezy conditions.  During that morning a Solitary Sandpiper and a few Red-breasted Merganse flew low over the trees.  
 
There were about 41 species of birds on the walk this morning, most in low numbers.  Machine noise interfered with the birding in a couple of places.  We did see and hear a male Blue-winged Warbler, a male Black-and-White Warbler, and a Blue-headed Vireo.  We heard an American Redstart and of course there were (a few) Yellow-rumped Warblers.  A Great Crested Flycatcher and a Chimney Swift were almost the only other Neotropical migrants.  Two Common Loons flew over, as did an immature Cooper's Hawk.  
 
Rob Hilton
aimophila10
Bethesda
yahoo
Maryland

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