Your Tern! ID help please **copied to IBN forum**

[ldelacruz]

Not sure of the exact ID but I think it is some type of Tern?

The photo was taken at East Beach in Galveston, TX with a Canon 1D MKIII and 500mm f4 IS and 1.4TCII handheld.

[Don Lacy]

Nice flight image with good wing position and the added bonus of the fish. Not a 100% sure since I am not a birder but does look like a Royal Tern to me from the bill but could also be a Caspian.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Nice wing position, and good exposure. Fish is a nice bonus, too bad it is pointing away - but I'd still be happy with it.

From the bill's large size and deeper orange/red colour I'd say this is a Caspian Tern.

[Doug Brown]

I'm going with Elegant or possibly Royal.

[Paul Guris]

I'm finding this one to be tough.

It doesn't look right for Caspian to me. The bill has no black near the tip, it's not a particularly heavy bill, the tail looks on the long side, and the underside of every primary but the outermost looks pure white. These should be very dusky in Caspian. The wings also look really thing.

The wings and tail look better to me for Royal, but the bill looks color looks wrong. Of course, soft part color can be notoriously misleading, particularly in the breeding season when hormone levels are high. And ID from one photo can always be troublesome.

Two questions. First, when did you take this photo? The bird is in breeding plumage so I assume sometime around April-May or so. Second, do you have any other shots? I'd like to see the wings from a different angle and the tail better.

[Daniel Cadieux]

I've copied this thread to the ID and behaviour forum...hopefully we'll get some ID assistance there too:).

[ldelacruz]

Thanks everyone. I took this on April 25th in Galveston, TX. I think it is a Royal myself but I am not very good at ID's.