When birding at Sabkhat Al Fasl, Phil and I
found a very dark White-winged Tern. We see many White-winged Terns during the
year at this site, including a number on the same day as this one, but none of
them have approached this bird for darkness. The dark colouration made the bird
look superficially like a Black Tern but many of the features of Black Tern
where not present such as the normally obvious breast patch. Structurally the
bird looked like a White-winged Tern but it’s wing length looked shorter and
rounder compared to a nearby White-winged Tern but this may have been due to
the dark colouration? Other features pointing towards White-winged Tern
included square-tipped tail with paler outer tail feathers, head pattern and a
short bill in comparison to Black Tern. We left the site happy the bird was a
White-winged Tern, but I did not have any Tern guides with me in Saudi Arabia
so I sent the photos to Jan Jorgensen for confirmation and would like to thank him
for his comments on this bird.
