Subject: quick trip to the water
Date: Sep 25 19:15:26 1995
From: Eric Henriksen - Hindu at megaweb.com


Tweets,

I took a walk to the water this evening (Hale Passage - Gig
Harbor area) and watched for a while. Boy - I've been
spending too much time enjoying terrestrial birds these past
few years. A couple of quick questions:

A group of terns passed quickly by divebombing for fish.
Because of the distance and relative quickness of their
departure, I was left somewhat confused. The crown to nape
area was black as in most terns, and the lore area was white
on all 8 of them. The whiteness of their breasts contrasted
with their slightly darker bellies. My NGS guide range maps
helped somewhat but did not lead me a definitive decision.
According to the range maps the only tern that would summer in
our area might be a Caspian. However, the birds looked more
like 1st summer/1st fall Commons. Given the time of year,
what would be the most likely possibility? Would migrating
Common's be in the south sound at this time?

Also, I witnessed a Great-Blue Heron that regularly hangs out
here being harassed pretty heavily by crows. This seemed odd
to me in that I would think that their respective foraging
niches are completely separate. Is this true? Is this a
territorial thing? Crows have been known to do just about
anything they want so maybe this is an anomolie (sp?).

PS seeing the terns go after fish brought back good memories
of time spent in SC and FL watching tiny Least's take fish
from the sides of waves rolling towards shore.

Watching the water,

Eric Henriksen
Gig Harbor
hindu at megaweb.com