GrrlScientist is an evolutionary biologist, ornithologist, aviculturist, birder and freelance science and nature writer. A native of the Pacific Northwest, she relocated from Seattle to NYC with her parrots after earning a BS in Microbiology (emphasis in Virology) and PhD in Zoology (Ornithology) from the University of Washington. In NYC, she was the Chapman Postdoctoral Fellow at the American Museum of Natural History for two years, pursuing part of her "dream" research project by reconstructing a molecular phylogeny of the parrots of the South Pacific islands. GrrlScientist and her five parrots are currently relocating to Germany, where she will continue writing her blog while also writing a book and learning German. (Meanwhile, her parrots will continue to nibble on her extensive personal library.) If you appreciate GrrlScientist's writing, you can help pay her living expenses by hiring her to "blog" your conference, speak at your club or write articles for your publication (or by clicking on the Paypal button below). If you read an essay on this blog that you especially enjoyed, please nominate it for inclusion in 
tags: Crested Tern, Great Crested-tern, Swift Tern, Thalasseus bergii, identify this bird, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Crested Tern, also known as the Swift Tern or Great Crested-tern, Thalasseus (Sterna) bergii, photographed at Michealmas Cay, Great Barrier Reef, Australia. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Steve Duncan, 24 August 2009 [larger view].
Nikon D200 w/ Nikkor 300mm f/4.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
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Comments
Obviously a tern, this looks to be one of the Crested Terns: grey upperparts, white underparts; shaggy black crest which recedes in winter; long, sharp bill... the yellow bill identifies this as a Greater Crested Tern, Thalasseus bergii (differentiated from the similar Lesser Crested Tern, Thalasseus bengalensis, which has an orange bill)... the "peppered" crest shows this to be a non-breeding adult
Because of range, this must be T. b. cristata (distributed throughout the eastern Indian Ocean, Australia and western Pacific Ocean)
non-breeding Thalasseus bergii cristata
Thalasseus bengalensis (Lesser Crested Tern- note orange bill)
Posted by: David | November 15, 2009 10:33 AM
hmmm, a quick note on the change in taxonomy Grrl... I would maintain that the biological nomenclature for this bird should be Thalasseus bergii and not as you have above: the Greater Crested Tern was originally described as Sterna bergii by German naturalist Martin Lichtenstein in 1823, but was moved to its current genus, Thalasseus, after mitochondrial DNA studies confirmed that the three main head patterns shown by terns (no black cap, black cap, black cap with a white forehead) corresponded to distinct clades... please see the research (available as a PDF) below:
Bridge, Eli S.; Jones, Andrew W. & Baker, Allan J. (2005). "A phylogenetic framework for the terns (Sternini) inferred from mtDNA sequences: implications for taxonomy and plumage evolution". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 35 (2): 459–469.
Posted by: David | November 17, 2009 4:38 PM