shorebirds, Common Tern

On July 4th, a one-year-old Common Tern on sw. San Diego Bay is a right-on-time summer arrival. The first good-sized wave of arriving Western Sandpipers (500+) and additional alternate-plumaged Short-billed Dowitchers are now also in residence, but the following species there, in contrast, are probably mostly locally over-summering birds (given their largely basic or only partly alternate plumage):  1 Black Turnstone, 12 Ruddy Turnstones, 25 Red Knots.

–Paul Lehman,  San Diego
Source: SanDiegoRegionBirding Latest Reports