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The WHITE-WINGED TERN is an exceptional vagrant to California with but two records to date (2003). The first was an alternate plumaged tern in Humboldt Co., the second a first-summer bird in Monterey County. I've seen and photographed both of them.
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 White-winged Tern records:
6/25/96 Arcata marsh HUM adult in alternate plumage; details in notes, photos.See the family page for county abbreviations. All photos & text © 2003 Don Roberson; all rights reserved.
9/6&11&21/99 Elkhorn Slough, Moss Landing MTY first-summer bird in wing molt present on "pond #3" adjacent to Moonglow Dairy since August, but not identified until 6 Sep (by Ed Kwater; who called me to come verify it) and then it remained to mid-October. I studied it at length three times and took photos; by my 21 Sep photos it had mostly completed wing molt [photo sequence on "Monterey highlights 1999" page]. I have extensive field notes as well.