Whiskered Tern, Cape May, NJ

Sept 13, 2014

Barry Marts and I made the drive out to Cape May Point State Park upon hearing the news that North America's third record of Whiskered Tern (First two records: 1993 - Cape May, NJ and then DE and 1998 - Cape May, NJ) had been found the day before. We left early in the morning and made the 4+ hr drive arriving at the "point" a little after 10AM. The bird was still being seen flying between the pond next to the hawk watching platform and the beach immediately south. We got the latest info and headed to the beach where the bird was hanging out with 100+ other terns mostly comprised of Common and Forester's but also included a couple of Royals and a Black Tern (which the Whiskered liked to fly around with). Amazing that this bird which breeds in fragmented areas of Europe and Asia (different sub-species in different locations) and winters in Africa, Indonesia, Austrailia would show up here in New Jersey but here it was. The global population is esimated to number between 300,000-1,500,000 (Wetlands International 2006). It looked to be in transition from breeding plumage and was molting flight feathers. I've included a few shots and a range map for the species.