Common Tern in Flight, Barnegat Lighthouse State Park, New Jersey

In Albums: birds

Jul 23rd, 2012, by Alex Zorach

This photo shows a common tern, Sterna hirundo, flying over the water, viewed from Barnegat Lighthouse State Park, at the northernmost end of Long Beach Island, New Jersey. I also took a photo of this same bird perched.

I find terns, especially medium-small ones like common and Forster's terns tricky to identify.

On this bird, you can clearly see extensive dark on the primary flight feathers of the wings, creating the impression of dark wedge at the end of the wings, and a dark red bill with dark tip. Forster's tern has a more orangeish bill and lacks the extensive dark on the ends of the wings. The back of this bird is also noticeably dark gray. A nearby Forster's tern looked much paler, whitish in comparison.

You can read more about ID-ing this tern on the Common tern ID page on Cornell Lab of Ornithology's All About Birds website.