Sunday 24 July 2016

Hybrid Roseate x Common Tern

Roseate terns last nested at Cemlyn around c. 1994, and the once healthy Anglesey population of Roseate Terns has now gone. They didn't die out, they just moved over the water to the other side of the Irish Sea to Rockabill Island in Dublin Bay. Now your best bet to see them over here is for wandering lone birds at Cemlyn, popping into the tern colony like the bird there this morning. However for years there have been a few birds that have been forming hybrid pairs with Common Terns over on the Skerries. I managed to get over there last Monday and I was lucky enough to see this hybrid bird that has been there this summer. It is an inter-grade between the two species. The bill not long enough for a Roseate and too much red on it . The wing pattern was also half way between Roseate and Common, when I saw it flap it's wings, but unfortuately I didn't have my finger on the button for that potential shot. Never the less, here are a few photos of an interesting bird. I only saw it with Common terns, but apparently this Hybrid was paired up with a Roseate, so I wonder what it's offspring would look like!







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