Forster's Tern, Port Mahon Road, Summer 09
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The thumbnail of the Forster's Tern pictured here is pretty small. Click into it to open this photo.
I have a lot of trouble sorting out medium terns, one from another. These would be Roseate, Common, Artic, and Forster's Tern. To begin with, these birds often share similar plumage and structure. This problem is even more complicated for me because I have never even seen a Roseate or Artic Tern.
Bill Thompson in Identify Yourself suggests learning to sort out medium terns this way. Because Common Tern and Forster's Tern are more common and widespread than are Roseate and Artic Tern, begin by learning to sort out Common Tern and Forster's Tern from one another. This makes a lot of sense to me. I approach this problem by using what I know about Forster's Tern as a starting point to sort out Forster's Tern from Common Tern.
Identify Yourself discusses 50 common birding identification challenges. Besides being a good read, I often find myself returning to this reference for some much needed help.
