Birds of a feather, flock together! Sooty Terns pay a visit following Hurricane Irma

By Susan Hardee Steger

September 14, 2017 8:08 p.m.

After roaming the beaches of Amelia Island, Bill George, leader of the Nassau  Birding Club, said, "The hurricane has produced some pelagic [of or related to the open sea] species on land. Yesterday I observed a juvenile Sooty Tern at beach access 25 that was exhausted from the storm."

Scooty Tern photo courtesy of National Audubon Society (L),; Photo taken of rescued Scooty more than likely exhausted from the storm.  (R)

Linda Fiala, local native,  rescued a bird in distress from her front yard on North 3rd Street.  On a chance encounter with Linda at the Centre Street docks, she showed me the bird  that was carefully boxed and on its way to a bird rescuer.  Although the photo I took is of poor quality, it looks like, a Sooty!   George confirmed  "looks like" but said the one he saw was a Juvenile Sooty.  Linda's tern, through George's experienced eye, appears to be a mature Sooty Tern.

The last report on Linda's tern indicated it was doing fine and just "hanging around."