Longtails and RFI tern

[Julie]

hi

Last Sunday we saw a raft of longtailed ducks at least a quarter KM offshore on the Ajax-Pickering lakeshore walk. The clear air , good bins and trail height let us pick them out-- we could clearly see  the long tails and the males appeared to be in breeding plumage. Is this a normal location for the time of year? All my range maps show the Arctic for breeding season, which must be long underway by now. First years, perhaps?

Later we saw a scaup mixed in with some Canada geese, also a first for me at this time of year-- too far offshore to see what kind.

Also we wondered if the small buoyant terns we saw struggling to avoid the thieving ring billed gulls were Arctics.. smaller than the gulls, black cap, totally orange bills.

We also saw busy beavers, baby rabbits, a brave racoon, yellow warblers, cardinals and orioles. Life was busting out all over....

thanks

Julie

[Pat Hodgson]

Arctic tern is extremely unlikely - common tern is much more so, and the black bill tip may be hard to see unless you are very close

[Kin Lau]

Like Pat says, Common Tern is most likely.

There's tern rafts over at Frenchman's Bay, and I see Common Terns all the time at Rotary Park/Corner Marsh.