Nonquon Lagoons-Black Tern

Just a quick post here.  I was at the Nonquon Lagoons in the Durham region the other day, specifically to see Black Terns.  We missed seeing them a couple of weeks ago when out searching for the Dickcissel and I had heard that the above Lagoons had 72 the previous day.  I had to go.  I had seen them at a distance last year and didn't get good photos, so seeing 72 Black Terns would have been great.

Trouble was, once there, I didn't see any.  There were lots of shore birds, swallows, and even an Osprey and a Lesser Scaup.  I e-mailed Geoff Carpenter to ask where the best viewing spot for the terns would be, as there are 4 cells there, and he wrote back that the terns were really active in the evenings but he doubted they would be in the heat of the day.  Great.

Still, I kept looking and at the larger south cell, I finally found one, lone Black Tern, flying and feeding.  I got some acceptable photos, but birds in flight are not as easy to catch with my Canon digital camera, as they are with the Sony DSLR.

I also saw some Bonaparte's Gulls, nice and close, and the first of season Trumpeter Swans, including a couple of youngsters.

Next report should be from Florida.  Here's hoping the Brown Booby is still there.