A couple of good Hidalgo County birds, 9/2/13

Last Sunday Mary Gustafson called me to say she had just found some good stuff while checking out the area wet spots north of Weslaco.  So I got out the next morning and saw the Ruddy Turnstone at the Sugar House pond.  It was my second ever for the county.

Over at Delta Lake, I ran into Mary who had just seen a Common Tern fly by.  I had never seen this coastal species in the county before.  A few minutes of waiting produced my 379th Hidalgo County species.

This is a bit of a tough ID when the bird is in flight as a moltling Forster's Tern can have a similar head pattern with a black nape.  The dark outer rectrices and dark edged primaries say Common Tern.  The next photo barely shows the dark carpal bar which is easy to see on a resting bird.