Elegant Tern: This is the summer that keeps on giving, another new bird added to the list.
I was half contemplating going for the Oriental turtle dove over in spurn before the news broke then decided to head down south to north Wales insead. And I'm glad I did, I don't need the dove but this tern is a UK fisrt for me.
This is the 2nd record for Wales after the 2002 bird that was found at Black Rock Sands, Gwynedd.
They breed on the Pacific coasts of the southern United States and Mexico and winters south to Peru, Ecuador and Chile in and nest in dense colonies.
Elegant terns nest in dense colonies, very similar to that of the tern colony at Cemlyn. It even appeared to be exhibiting courtship displays, raising the crest, standing tall, and drooping the wings, all the while calling and flicking the bill upward.
The bird stayed in on area of the tern colony, often hidden by the vegetation and occasionally liting its bright organy-yellow bill upwards and flying short distances.
Brilliant find by Mark Sutton.
