SOUTHEASTERN CARIBBEAN BIRDS PHOTO GALLERY

Trinidad and Tobago Field Naturalists' Club         Southeastern Caribbean Bird Alert         Trinidad and Tobago Rare Bird Committee

TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO

Sabine's Gull (Xema sabini)

A                                       B                                                                                        C

D                                          E                                                              F

G                                                               H                                          I

First-winter immature at Waterloo, Trinidad, 27 January 2002. Photos © by Floyd Hayes, regretably overexposed due to overheating of film. Second record for Trinidad and Tobago, and apparently for the east coast of South America; the first was photographed by D. Raby at an oil rig off Galeota Point, Trinidad, 2-21 March 1982. Found by Nigel Hacking, Floyd Hayes, Jane Albert and Tom Bearss, this bird accompanied about 1500 Laughing Gulls (L. atricilla) and was also seen briefly with a flock of 25 Large-billed Terns (Phaetusa simplex). Note the significantly smaller size than accompanying Laughing Gulls (B, D), the black-tipped tail indicating immaturity (all photos except A), and the forked tip of the tail (H). The tricoloured wings were strikingly similar to those of the Large-billed Tern, but note the thinner, all black bill (Large-billed Tern has a large, yellow bill).

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