Thanks to everyone who replied to my query about the least tern, both on and
off list. I did decide to go and try my luck today!



Vantage was overcast, windy, and chilly enough at 9am for me to wear a coat
for the jaunt up the Recreation Road trails. The black-throated sparrow I
found was a highly intelligent bird, because it was hanging out along the
lower trail right by the arroyo, where there was some shelter from the wind.



By the time I got to North Potholes, the sun was breaking through, the
temperature was rising, the wind had dropped, and the roof finally came off
the car. I spent 3 hours at the western overlook described in earlier posts.
When I arrived, there was a mixed group of gulls, terns and cormorants
feeding together way off to the south, much too distant for ID. A few
Forster's terns wandered up to the northern areas now and then, singly or in
pairs, but no flock of terns, and even the mixed flock to the south
eventually dispersed and vanished.



At 2pm, I decided I had nothing to lose by checking the water on the
north-eastern side, ie as if I had gone left at the T-junction. I picked up
3 more Forster's terns, and one Caspian, who appeared a total giant after
all the hours peering at Forster's. So no least tern for me today, but the
identifiable tern numbers were so low, it may well have been feeding
elsewhere on the huge reservoir. Someone needs to check by boat before we
give up on this bird!



Louise Rutter

Kirkland