Help with 2 terns in South Florida

[Todd C]

Taken today in West Palm Beach Florida

[Birding Boy]

Gull-Billed Tern and Caspian Tern.

[Todd C]

Thank you !!!

 

[Tony Leukering]

Any tern in Sep through at least Jan with a complete -- or nearly so -- black crown in the US or Canada is a Caspian. Throw in the huge red bill.... This bird seems to still be holding much or all of its juvenile plumage.

I don't see how Forster's is ruled out in the first bird. It has relatively narrow-based wings and the mask extends in equal or expanding width from the eye to the nape. Gull-billed generally has much less mask, with the black around the eye often partly or completely separated from the rest of the mask, and would not show black on the nape in this plumage.

 

[MichaelLong]

it looks like it has black legs

[Birding Boy]

15 minutes ago, Tony Leukering said:

Any tern in Sep through at least Jan with a complete -- or nearly so -- black crown in the US or Canada is a Caspian. Throw in the huge red bill.... This bird seems to still be holding much or all of its juvenile plumage.

I don't see how Forster's is ruled out in the first bird. It has relatively narrow-based wings and the mask extends in equal or expanding width from the eye to the nape. Gull-billed generally has much less mask, with the black around the eye often partly or completely separated from the rest of the mask, and would not show black on the nape in this plumage.

 

Makes sense, just seemed like the bill was pretty large in the photo. But the tail too, seems to be too long for Gull-Billed, I can see this being Forster’s. 

[Birding Boy]

14 minutes ago, MichaelLong said:

it looks like it has black legs

It’s in shadow, so kinda hard to tell.

[Seanbirds]

I took the photo and played with the lighting a bit. It still appears to have black legs.

[Benjamin]

FWIW, structurally the first bird just seems a bit too chunky for Forster's, and that tail is real short.