From a Press release by the Bird Observatories Council

Colourful Common Tern tours Bird Observatories

Keen eyes at two British Bird Observatories have revealed a roundabout journey for one Common Tern.

A colour-ringed Common Tern from Suffolk has recently been recorded touring Bird Observatories in Kent and East Yorkshire, travelling hundreds of kilometres in two weeks. But where was it in-between times?

This bird was colour-ringed as a chick in July 2004 at Alton Water in Suffolk. Mink predation at the site meant that only three birds were ringed there in 2004 (and only one colour-ringed), so hopes were low for reports of these birds.

But on 26 June 2005, it was seen by the warden of Dungeness Bird Observatory in Kent. It was unlikely to be returning to breed, as generally birds don’t breed until they are three or four years old. Even stranger was that it was seen just 18 days later by the warden at Spurn Bird Observatory in East Yorkshire, over 300km north of Dungeness!

Interestingly, this bird would have been in ‘portlandica’ plumage when last seen. This plumage was once thought to represent a different species, and was first described from a bird found in Portland, Maine in 1874 (and not named after another British Bird Observatory – Portland, in Dorset).

This really does show how useful colour-ringing is, but you don’t necessarily have to have the eyes of a Bird Observatory warden!

Interestingly, one of the other two birds ringed in 2004 was found again, but on a boat off Senegal in October 2004 - 4,400km from Suffolk. Other Alton Water Common Terns have been found dead in Essex, recaught by Belgian ringers in Senegal and caught from a boat off Mauretania.

For further information please contact:

Secretary of The Bird Observatories Council: Peter Howlett, Tel: 029 2057 3233, email: peter.howlett@nmgw.ac.uk

BTO Ringing Unit: Mark Grantham, Tel: 01842 750050 (office hours), e-mail: mark.grantham@bto.org

Notes

The Bird Observatories Council co-ordinates and promotes the work of the network of 18 Bird Observatories located at prime migration points in Britain and Ireland.

The primary purpose of Bird Observatories is to conduct long-term monitoring of bird populations and migration, through daily census work, ringing and other standardised methods of data collection.

The Observatories also enable and encourage volunteers to participate in scientific studies of birds and the environment, and the results of these studies are made freely available to researchers and to the public who are also welcome to visit Observatories.