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James Lowen | profile | all galleries >> South American wildlife >> Argentina birds - non-passerines >> Gulls and terns >> Tern forum >> Nueva Atlantis, 10 March 08 tree view | thumbnails | slideshow

Nueva Atlantis, 10 March 08

On 10 March 2008, Roberto Gueller went looking for the Rincon de Cobo/Nueva Atlantis Elegant Tern (Thalasseus elegans). He found an adult orange-billed tern feeding a juvenile and wondered whether this was an Elegant Tern - and, if so, whether it might be breeding somewhere in Argentina. All photographs are (c) R. Gueller.

To my eyes, these are actually Royal Terns (Thalasseus maximus). Only in photograph RG9c, when the adult's head is turned, does the bill structure appear to resemble that of Elegant. In the juvenile in particular, the images suggest a stout bill with a strong gonydeal angle. This, combined with the head and covert pattern, suggests Royal to me. The juvenile in the background of RG9a is a Cayenne Tern (T. acuflavidus eurygnathus).

RG9a Nueva Atlantis 10 Mar08.jpg
RG9a Nueva Atlantis 10 Mar08.jpg		 RG9b Nueva Atlantis 10 Mar 08.jpg
RG9b Nueva Atlantis 10 Mar 08.jpg		 RG9c Nueva Atlantis 10 Mar 08.jpg
RG9c Nueva Atlantis 10 Mar 08.jpg

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welchs02-Jan-2010 00:58
Though I have no personal experience of Elegant, these do illustrate how subjective impressions from photos can be. IMHO the longer-looking bill in (c) is purely due to the foreshortening effect in the other two pics, head turned away (a) and towards (b), though would have been hard to judge how much in (b) had we not had photo (c). So impressions of structure/jizz from (a) and (b) need to be made with care, also in any other photos where angle of head is not perfectly in the plane of the image. Nevertheless, there's no doubt that the bill of the adult is significantly longer than the juv, and we don't of course know the ID of the other parent.
Guest 31-Dec-2009 06:09
In the first two photos the structure look bad for Elegant, bill too thick, not long enough and crest not long enough. The third photo looks better on structure, and that is puzzling to me, it almost looks like a different bird or if the photo has been "squished." I also find it odd that none of these birds show any substantial salmon color in the underparts, rump, underwing etc. Elegants that are seen well nearly always, and particularly late in the breeding period (as this bird is...although at the wrong time of year) show that salmon color. I don't think this bird is an Elegant, not sure what it is though. Was the rump color seen? Alvaro Jaramillo.
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