many shades of white

Why are so many of the birds on the creek so resplendent in various shades of white? This morning I saw Common, Forster's and Least Terns, one more white than the other. And, of course, both Great abd Snowy Egrets are white, white, white. All the terns specialize in whiteness; the gulls less so but both Herring and Black-backed Gulls are mostly white underneath. Although there are notable exceptions (the Double-crested Cormorant is an obvious one), there must be an evolutionary advantage to the color white in fish-eating water birds that has resulted in so many having adopted the color white, at least underneath if not more extensively. Perhaps, in some way, it dazzles the underwater prey and prevents them from seeing the doom that awaits them from above.

The continuing presence of Forster's Terns is notable. I recognize the adults by the white flash of the primaries that these birds show in flight on their two-tone upper wings. Today there was a young bird showing a bit of brown, a lot of white and, in particular, a white dove-like head, with a black cheek patch. Could this bird have fledged around here or did it come -- with an adult in a manner similar to the Royal Terns -- from further west or south?

Speaking of young birds, a young Eastern Phoebe (it had the smile line at the of its bill, a sure sign of a fledgling bird -- was hunting in the woods back of the house. This youngster was almost certainly born around here although he/she had clearly graduated to some level of self-sufficiency.

One observation that I omitted from yesterday's account of birding on Dune Road with John Leo and Eileen Schwinn: a female Black Duck leading half a dozen chicks across an open muddy area between two islands of Spartina marsh. Good to know that the native Black Duck has not been totally wiped out by the introduced Mallard.

Eric Salzman