Black Tern

Black Tern - A 'Locally' Common Tern 

Black Tern

 The Black Tern (Chlidonias niger) is described as 'locally common' in New Brunswick.  It is a species of North America and western Asia.  In North America its breeding range is from North West Territories  and eastern British Columbia eastward to New Brunswick and southward to most of the northern US states.  It winters from Surinam to Peru and Chile.  Its preferred habitats are lakes, ponds, marshes and coastal areas.  It prefers fresh water.  In New Brunswick I have seen this species at Black Duck Marsh, Lower Jemseg and near Hoyt.  It has also been seen at Grand Point, Grand Lake and Kouchibouguac.   It is rarely seen in the northern part of the province.

Black Tern on nest

Seen above is a Black Tern on its nest.  This was taken at Point Pelee National Park where there is a Black Tern colony.  The nests were on floating vegetation in black muck and among the coarse roots and debris.  The nests were almost invisible when the birds were not sitting.  They were sitting on 3 or 4 large buff eggs with dark blotches.  They were either so dark they were difficult to see or they were smeared with the black muck.  Incubation lasts 17 to 22 days and is carried out by both adults.  The whole colony seemed to be in a continuous uproar as the adults flew around screaming at one another or at bystanders.  At one point I was dive-bombed by an upset adult even though I was well back.  I did not see any chicks but was lucky to be shown a photo of one taken by another naturalist.  It was very cute with long light gray fluff and dark eyes.

Black Tern

On the sitting Black Tern shown above note the crossed wing feathers.  The Black Tern has very long pointed wings enabling it for long flight.  It is a small tern (25 cm/9.7"long) with a black head and underparts.  The back, wings and tail are light gray.  The vent (area under the tail) is white.  The bill, legs and eyes are black.  The legs are actually dark red but appear black.  They lose this beautiful plumage in winter and turn much lighter to a dark gray back and white underneath. Some patchy black usually remains on the head.  What I found interesting was the fine white line over the wings in the sitting breeding-plumaged adult as shown in the top photo.  The white on the head in that same photo indicates a young bird and is a holdover from juvenile plumage.  The head is usually all black.

Black Tern

The Black Tern has an interesting courtship ritual.  It involves much flying with the male flying around with a fish in its mouth attempting to attract a female.  It must be a noisy colony at that time!  The female who is enticed follows him to a perch where he feeds her the delicacy.  The Black Tern feeds on mainly fish but also insects, molluscs and crayfish.  They often catch their prey from the air and rarely dive-bomb like other terns.  They will swoop down to the water while flying to drink or catch prey.  They vocalize a lot and the sound is a high-pitched grating sound.

Black Terns sometimes associate with other terns.  The colony we visited had a Forster's Tern present.  Black Terns are very social birds.  They usually breed, roost and migrate in flocks.  These flocks can sometimes get as large as tens of thousands.  Black Terns spend the winter at sea.  The only similar species found here but very rarely is the White-winged Tern which is a rare visitor from Eurasia.

Black Tern

Bay-breasted Warbler

Bay-breasted Warbler

Bay-breasted Warbler Male 

The Bay-breasted Warbler (Dendroica castanea) is from the big family, Parulidae.  Dendroica is the largest and most diverse genus in that family with 29 species, 21 in North America and 8 in the Caribbean.  Most species in this genus are similar in behaviour and diet but show a vast array of colouration.  

In breeding plumage the male Bay-breasted Warbler is very pretty with a black  mask, chestnut coloured throat, sides and cap, cream neck patch, white belly, two white wing bars, and an olive and black streaked back.  The female is much duller with a mottled blackish cheek, paler chestnut cap and sides and a buffy split eye ring.  In the fall in non-breeding plumage they are much duller and more yellowish olive-green with indistinct black streaks and grayish upper tail coverts and rump.  Immature birds look like the fall female.

Bay-breasted Warbler [Internet Photo]

Fall warblers can be notoriously difficult to identify.  Fall Bay-breasteds can be confused with fall Blackpoll Warblers.  The Bay-breasteds have greyish legs and feet and buffy under tail coverts and flanks and an unstreaked breast.  The fall Blackpoll has yellow feet, whitish under tail coverts and a faintly streaked breast.  

Bay-breasted Warbler

The song of the Bay-breasted Warbler is a high-pitched, rapidly repeated seetzy, seetzy, seetzy.  This species breeds across Canada east of the Rockies from Alberta to Newfoundland, including New Brunswick.  It spends its winters in the tropics from Costa Rica through Panama to Columbia and Venezuela.  It feeds on insects while on the breeding grounds but also eats fruit in the south.  Bay-breasted Warblers, like all warblers, are an essential part of our ecosystem, keeping the insect population numbers balanced and protecting our trees from outbreaks of insect devastation.

This species nests mainly in the boreal forest but also may be found in mixed forests.  The female lays 4 to 6 brown or purple marked white, green or blue eggs in a loosely built nest of twigs, grass and tree needles, lined with hair.  The nest is usually in a conifer tree about 46 m/50 ft above the ground.

The population of Bay-breasted Warblers varies depending on outbreaks of insect pests in the forest, being abundant during outbreaks.  In 1979 during a spruce budworm outbreak in NB there were more than four singing males per hectare in a spruce stand in Fundy Park.

Bay-breasted Warblers are closely related to Blackpoll Warblers and sometimes hybridize with them.  They are also known to hydridize with Yellow-rumped Warblers and with Blackburnian Warblers.

Canada Warbler

Canada Warbler - Not Our National Bird

Canada Warbler  [M Morse Photo]

The Canada Warbler is not our national bird.  In fact, we do not have a national bird but there is a movement to select one.  The Canada Warbler is a rarely-seen, small  bird of the deep forest.  Most people do not even know it exists.  So, let's look at it and become more familiar with this species.

The Canada Warbler (Wilsonia canadensis) is an uncommon, small warbler (13 cm/5.3" long).  It usually inhabits dense thickets in mixed woods along streams or over wet areas.  It is gray on the upper side and yellow below, sporting a black or gray necklace.  It has a white eyeing and yellow supralores (area in front of the eye).  It often cocks its long thin tail.  Its white undertail coverts separate it from the Kentucky Warbler with which it sometimes is confused.  The necklace is a faded gray in the female and immature bird.

This species breeds in Canada east of the Rockies and south into the US to Massachusetts.  It breeds throughout New Brunswick but has shown some decline in population numbers since 1970.  It winters in the tropical areas of South American.  The overall decline in numbers for this species is thought to be because of loss of habitat.  

Canada Warbler  [Internet Photo]

The Canada Warbler nests in thick underbrush such as alder thickets.  It builds its nest of dried leaves and grass on or near the ground usually at the base of a stump or in a heavy clump of vegetation.  Three to five white or buff eggs are laid and incubated for 12 days by the female.  The diet is primarily flying insects but it also eats hairless caterpillars and spiders.  Its song is a long mixture of jumbled notes, often beginning with a 'chip'.  

The Canada Warbler is sometimes called the 'necklace warbler' for obvious reasons.  I like its official name better, for obvious reasons.  This little sprite of a bird has actually made it to Europe on at least two occasions, once to Iceland and once to Ireland.  It must be a hardy little bird!