First, a warning about parking on the weekend at Assateague. When Jane Kostenko and I arrived at the South Beach parking lot (just north of the entrance to the OSV/ORV zone), the lot was already about 2/3 full. By the time that Gwen Brewer and George Jett arrived, it was almost full. By 10 it was beyond full and people were circling looking for someone to leave. There was a one on, one off rule in effect for the OSV/ORV zone and by the time we left around 1pm, the line was just about to the circle. I suspect that traffic/parking on weekdays won't be quite as much of an issue but if the Brown Booby hangs around through next weekend, I'd highly recommend getting there early.

Second, the Roseate Tern that Jane, Fred Shaffer and his brother (Dave? my memory is terrible!) and I had did not appear to have the hugely long tail streamers as did the bird that Bill Hubick photographed a week ago. However, the one thing that I noted from a distance was the translucent wings. When it first came into scope view, my pulse quickened thinking it was an Arctic Tern. However the primary pattern didn't fit and the bill was dark. Only on two occasions, when the bird spun to dive, did it turn in such a way that I could see the deeply forked tail and streamers. Once we got home, I dug out Olsen and Larsson's Terns of Europe and North America and found the following which clarified this feature for us:

"The remiges (apart from the 3 outer primaries) are translucent against the light, making the wing appear narrow; the translucency is not, however, so obvious as on Arctic Tern."

and

"The streamers are, however, so thin that they sometimes cannot be seen, so that the bird appears short-tailed! The outermost tail feathers are not uncommonly broken off, especially in late summer."

I'm wondering if others have noted this translucency and whether you find it to be a useful field mark for quick separation of Roseate/Artic from other Sterna terns at a distance.

I don't often use Olsen and Larsson but every time I do, I think to myself, this is a wealth of information that I should use more often! We were fortunate to get it remaindered at Edward R. Hamilton bookseller back in 2002 for $9.95. A steal!


Tyler Bell

California, Maryland