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.”
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.”