Lifer Antarctic Tern

The Old Man and the Rainbow (photo by James Cornelious)

On 25 June, David Harper posted on Facebook about an Antarctic Tern or two being seen close to, or even on shore again in Port MacDonnell, South Australia. 

It is a bird that both James and I needed, but it is more of a happen-upon it bird than a twitchable bird. For several years, these terns have been sometimes seen close in to shore by Port MacDonnell pelagic birders when their offshore trips were cancelled because of strong southerly winds. The theory being that the birds are ‘blown’ in by the winds. However, there is also a point to be made that no birders are looking for them along the shore except when the pelagic trips are cancelled. Port MacDonnell is a very small seaside town without a lot of hard-core birders dropping by. And identifying terns can be hard-core birder stuff.

  

Me looking at the bird in the rain.

James finding the Antarctic Tern. It was about in the area where the rainbow ends

James was keen to go to Port Mac (as the cool kids call it) and have a look for these birds. I have been fortunate enough to have birded with some of the top birders in the world, including the big year record holders for both Australia and the USA, respectively, John Weigel and Neil Hayward. I have also birded with Kenn Kaufman, Richard Baxter, Rohan Clarke, Jeff Davies, Tony Pallister, Kevin Bartram and the late and truly great, Mike Carter to name drop only a few. And I will say that James Cornelious is one of the best birders I have ever birded with. He has excellent eyes and ears as well as a lot of knowledge. He is a better birder than I am and as good as anyone I have birded with.

I have come to understand that, although I will definitely bird hard, I am not exactly a hard-core, or more accurately an ornithological type of birder. I am far more of what some disdainfully refer to as a lister. I do want to know that I definitely saw a species of bird before I add it to my list, but I do not have to be the one who identified it. I only have to know for sure that the bird I saw was the specific bird. 

Identifying terns can wander into being hard-core birding and thus beyond my abilities. However, Antarctic Terns do a cool thing. In non-breeding plumage, they retain their red bill. It might be a bit more dull or whatnot, but it is red as are their legs.

Yes, it is in there somewhere. Thank heavens for the scope.

On Saturday 13 July James came down and spent the night, in the morning we drove over to Port MacDonnell. It’s an easy drive of about four and a half hours. We took the little car since we would not be camping. I had booked a cabin (they only have two) at the Port MacDonnell Foreshore Tourist Park. Adam, the manager was very nice and had allowed us to reserve Sunday and Monday nights without having to pay for them in advance, just if we used them. 

We arrived about 2pm and checked-in, put our stuff in the cabin, and then went birding. The hoped for southerly winds were still light but forecast to increase dramatically on Monday and especially Tuesday. We did not have a lot of expectations, but figured we’d go have a look.

After quick checks of the groin and the jetty with our bins, we drove to the boat ramp and down the little track beside it as far as it goes and parked there. James got my scope out and began scanning through the terns roosting far out on the rocks. I was standing behind him looking through some of the closer terns with my bins. After only about fifteen minutes James turned to me and said, “I’ve got it!” His face was beaming. I knew he had it.

Could it really have been that quick? Yes indeed.

He was beaming pure joy. I’ve seen that look on his face quite a few times. It is his ‘Lifer Look’. I knew without a doubt, I knew he had found it. We took turns (not a pun) looking through the scope. It was at least 400 metres away, but we could see that red bill and occasionally its red feet as well. It was sprinkling rain and there was a rainbow that ended about where the tern was. It was magic. It was Gonzo. It was my 785th bird in Australia.

 

Not much of a photo, but there's that red bill!

First views of the Antarctic Tern

I could not get a photo with my 100-400mm lens, but James has gotten pretty good at digiscoping and was able to take a few recording photos. It was constantly preening which made it somewhat difficult to get that bill but he did.

Oddly, even though we are way closer to Antarctica than to the Arctic, it is the Arctic Tern that is more often seen in Australia. Here is a bit of trivia regarding the names Arctic and Antarctic.

“Arctic” is from the Greek arktos for, “bear,” because the constellation Ursa Major, “the greater she-bear” (also known as the Big Dipper), is always visible in the northern polar sky. So “Antarctic,” literally means “opposite the bear.”

And while we’re at it, I learned that Antarctica was originally called Australia. In 1824, today's Australia took the name, leaving that icy continent essentially without a 'proper' name until the 1890s when someone (I am getting tired of googling about this) came up with the ‘No Bear’ name. James told me about the bear being in the name and I looked it up for this blog.

Our Lifer selfie on the breakwater

The next morning after a decent night’s sleep (I woke up too early as I do). We ended up at the same spot, but more rugged-up as the temperature was down, it was mostly cloudy, and still raining on and off. The winds were increasing.

Showing off that red leg and foot

Long story short. Again, after only 15 minutes or so, James refound the tern in the same general area and we got to stare at it though the scope. He even got us some more digiscoped shots with the scope maxed out. The bird moved a few times and flew off once, but returned. It stayed in the same basic part of the breakwater with hundreds of Crested Terns and a couple of White-fronted Terns. Just after noon Monday, we left Port MacDonnell and drove home. As James has joyfully been able to say before, “We did it!” Yes we did. 

Stay weird my friends 💙