Subject: ?terns?
Date: Oct 27 10:13:41 1996
From: mickey gibson - gibson at olympus.net


Hi, Yesterday a couple of friends and I drove to Ediz Hook, looking for the
snowy owl (no show). We did see several species of old friends, but about
six pm, looking toward the sunset, we saw 4-5 terns. The lighting was bad
for distinguishing marks clearly, but they had black wing-tips with a dab of
white at the very end, bills seemed to be yellowish, eyes dark. I thought I
could see a faint, dark, eye-stripe. They hovered like terns, and dived
head first into the water. The pure white tail was only slightly concave,
not deeply forked.
I have been moving, and don't have all my bird books with me yet, so
definitely need help with the identification. Oh, they were only about half
the size of a Western gull which perched nearby.
Thanks,
Mickey Gibson
Sequim,WA