Elegant Tern

J and I passed some gulls at the beach last week
and I noticed one didn't quite fit. It was mostly
white with a bad toupee.

I pulled out the camera and took some shots.
Then I forgot for a couple of

days, but finally emailed the pictures to
my bird experts Dianne and Catherine.

Both independently declared it an elegant tern. They hang out in Southern California and Baja. There's a hummingbird that drops by my mom's regularly, but haven't had the camera ready fast enough. And J spotted a small hawk/falcon like bird on the telephone pole behind the house yesterday evening. There used to be lots of sparrow hawks around here when I was a kid. You could tell by the way they hovered in the air like a helicopter. One of the reasons they were here I'm guessing is there was a huge swamp just down the street full of small animals including frogs. Now it's Penmar Public Golf Course. Better than houses I guess, but not as much food for the top of the food chain. Here's Penmar a couple of days ago.