Birds of the Massachusetts Coast

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"Roseate Family on the Beach" -- Roseate Terns (Sterna dougallii) breed mainly on small islands off the Atlantic coasts, where many are banded. They’re hard to see elsewhere, and my first real chance to photograph them came in July 2007 on Popponesset Spit on Cape Cod (near Mashpee), where we found a dozen which had come to feed. Roseates are named for a faint rosy tinge on the belly during breeding. But this is rarely visible in the field, and the main distinctive feature is a very long tail in the adult, seen here on the left with its juvenile offspring (the tail is the pair of thin white feathers extending beyond the wings).
Copyright © 2007 John Van de Graaff

"Roseate Family on the Beach" -- Roseate Terns (Sterna dougallii) breed mainly on small islands off the Atlantic coasts, where many are banded. They’re hard to see elsewhere, and my first real chance to photograph them came in July 2007 on Popponesset Spit on Cape Cod (near Mashpee), where we found a dozen which had come to feed. Roseates are named for a faint rosy tinge on the belly during breeding. But this is rarely visible in the field, and the main distinctive feature is a very long tail in the adult, seen here on the left with its juvenile offspring (the tail is the pair of thin white feathers extending beyond the wings).

Bird Photographs by John Van de Graaff