Upon Further Review!

The referee stepped away from the screen and turned on his mic.  "Upon further review, that Royal Tern that you ignored at Cedar Key last week was actually a Caspian Tern.  Bob will be required to adjust his county year list accordingly and must graciously accept the scorn of his fellow birders.  Dummy!  Don't be so careless!"

If you read my Cedar Key blog from last week, you'll know I was there to study shorebirds.  So when someone called out "Royal Tern," I glanced in that direction, saw the bird, made a mental note to check my Levy county year list, and went back to my scope which was trained on some peeps.  A few days later, I got an email from one of the Red Van Gang.  "That Royal Tern we saw was really a Caspian.  I was looking through the photos and there's no doubt."  I opened the pics (below) and yep, Caspian: stout bill with black near the tip and streaked forehead.

The moral to the story?  See what you're looking at, study what you see, and then make the call. 

Caspian Tern, Cedar Key

Caspian Tern, Cedar Key