Black Tern Magic, Again

Black Tern, adult summer plumage, 6/25/05 photo taken at a distance

Black Tern, adult winter plumage, 8/23/07 photo taken at a distance

Common Nighthawks were feeding with the Black Terns last night

Last night, here in NH, we had not one, but two Black Terns visit our pond. Black Terns are not very common here in SW NH so this was an exciting event. We posted it to our listserve and two of our friends came to see them. There was a very low could ceiling, with moist conditions and thunderstorms coming in later that night, so the terns were stopping to feed during their migration. This is only the third time in 12 years we have seen them here, the other two times were in spring, 6/25/05 and in late summer, 8/23/07. The terns circled and circled and there were also Common Nighthawks and Tree and Bank Swallows feeding out with them. Sometimes in birding you just stand there and soak up the magic of the moment. This was one of those times.