30 September 2024
The previous day afternoon a black tern (Chlidonias niger) made Allegheny County’s Uncommon Chook Alert when it used to be noticed on the primary pond at Imperial. Instantly I considered the black terns I’ve observed all the way through spring migration on the Nice Lakes with beautiful black heads and bellies.
However black terns aren’t black right now of yr. I didn’t know this till we noticed them from the seaside at Chipiona, Spain at the WINGS Spain in Autumn excursion.
Black terns reside in each the New and Outdated Worlds. The North American subspecies (C. n. surinamensis) spends the wintry weather at the coasts of Central and South The united states. The Eurasian subspecies (C. n. niger) migrates around the Mediterranean and the Atlantic coast to Africa.
They don’t seem like “black” terns in non-breeding plumage. This team used to be filmed in January 2018, most definitely in Africa.