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details of
Sooty Tern 14 July 1995 Bolsa Chica ORA |
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details of
Sooty Tern 14 July 1995 Bolsa Chica ORA |
The SOOTY TERN is a tropical species that is an exceptional vagrant to California, but has attempted to nest. The first record was a hurricane blown immature but an adult visited the Elegant Tern breeding colony at Bolsa Chica ORA from 1994-1998; this is the bird I saw in 1995. A pair appeared in a San Diego tern breeding colony in 1997 and laid eggs, but the adults were eaten by Peregrine Falcons, so the nesting attempt failed. There have been a couple other s. California coastal record and one at-sea northern California record.
All of my California records are listed below. Those preceded by H were found or co-found by me personally; those preceded by K receive some partial credit (e.g., I was involved in sorting out i.d. of a previously discovered bird or refound a vagrant that had been thought to have left). These are my personal Sooty Tern records:
7/14/95 Bolsa Chica ORA adult in Elegant Tern colony, standing by adult & chick Elegants; sketch & details of this stake-out are in notesSee the family page for county abbreviations. All photos & text © 2003 Don Roberson; all rights reserved.