BIRDS OF NANTUCKET
SHAGGY-HEADED ROYALTY
by Kenneth Turner Blackshaw
This week we are talking about the Royal Tern - not to be confused with the Royal wave. Oh, wait. That would be 'turn,' not tern.

Clapper Rail

This is a bird we only used to see after hurricanes, a southern species dislocated by the high winds. Its Latin name, Sterna maxima, the largest tern, is an unfortunate mistake, but an easy one to make 200 years before the Internet. Dutch scientist Pieter Boddaert named this bird back in 1783. The German naturalist, Peter Simon Pallas, had named the much huger and more robust Caspian Tern 13 years before. Just a few hundred miles to the west, Boddaert was unaware his tern was smaller.

Actually it is to their credit that the Royal Tern was even recognized as unique. Around 1840, Audubon himself united both Royal and Caspian Terns together and then compounded the error by identifying them as 'Cayenne' Terns, a species we now know only exists off the east coast of South America.

I first remember seeing Royal Terns after Nantucket was hit by back to back hurricanes, Carol and Edna, in late August and September 1954. Edna was the first storm to cut off Smith's Point. Edna's Island quickly reconnected to Nantucket only to be recreated as Esther's Island in 1961. Hurricane Esther was the first hurricane targeted by the U.S. Navy's ill-fated program to seed hurricane clouds with silver iodide crystals. It's so easy to get sidetracked when writing a bird column.

Royal Terns are larger than most of the terns found here. Edith Andrews recently noted eight species of terns appearing around Nantucket in a single week, and yes, this included a Royal Tern seen off Great Point. Most of our terns fall into the medium-sized tern (MST) category and can be very difficult to identify from one another after their breeding plumage fades. But Royals are easy. They are even larger than Laughing Gulls although their short legs make them look smaller when sitting on the beach. Their long pointed silver wings span over 40 inches. For just a few weeks at the beginning of the breeding season they sport a completely black cap. Later in the year when we see them they show a white forehead preceding a black shaggy crest that makes you think they are having a perpetually bad hair day. They are white underneath with black legs and a large orange bill.

The only species you might confuse this tern with is the Caspian Tern mentioned

above. Caspians have a four-foot wingspan

and a heavy blood-red bill. Their foreheads are 'salt and pepper' compared to the white of the Royal's.

In 1874, New England naturalist William Brewster shot a pair of Royal Terns that were attempting to nest on Nantucket's Coatue shore. For years this was the farthest north this species had been recorded. Royal Terns were horribly persecuted until the early twentieth century, both for their feathers for lady's hats and also because their eggs proved quite tasty.

The nesting colonies on the Virginia coast were so dense that it was impossible to walk through them without crushing many eggs. Royal Tern nests are only a depression scraped in the beach sand, completely unadorned. The tenants defecate around the edge and over the life of a nest a distinct rim forms that provides some protection from high tides.

Typically each nest has two eggs. Just a day or two after hatching, the youngsters congregate by the hundreds in large groups known as créches. In this mass of fuzzy chicks, the parents feed their own by recognizing their voices. Once they learn to fly, the inexperienced and rather pathetic chicks still pursue their parents, desperately begging for food although by now they are full-sized.

Royal Terns can be found on ocean shores all around the U.S. Unlike the larger Caspian Tern, these birds are completely tied to salt water. There is another population of Royal Tern that nests in West Africa and wanders along southern European coasts later in the summer.

Since 1874 we have no record of Royals trying to nest around Nantucket. The egg market and lady's hat trade essentially wiped the species out along our East Coast and they didn't return in numbers to nest in Virginia until the 30s. That is still the northern limit of their nesting range but we are increasingly finding wanderers along our Nantucket shores during the summer.

If you notice a much larger tern with the normal MSTs on Nantucket's summer beaches, look for the shaggy head and then turn to

give it the Royal wave! I

George C. West creates illustrations for these articles. The Maria Mitchell Association sponsors bird walks on Tuesday and Thursday morning starting at 6:30 a.m., 8:00 a.m. on Saturday, from the corner of Vestal and Milk Streets. There is a fee. To hear about rare birds, or to leave a bird report call the Massachusetts Audubon hot line at 1-781-259- 8805. Ask Ken a question at: kenandcindy1@comcast.net.