Most veteran birders can identify at least a handful of favorite sightings over the years. Some involve rare species but most are likely related to nostalgic events or field trips. For me, my initial encounter with black terns is definitely on that list.
Forty-two years ago this month, I observed a large flock of black terns feeding beneath a dam on the Arkansas River, in Little Rock. Within two years, we would move to Denver and I would only rarely see those attractive terns during their migrations on the Great Plains. Here in central Missouri, they are regularly observed in mid-late May at Eagle Bluffs Conservation Area, on the Missouri River floodplain, as they travel from tropical coasts to freshwater marshes of the Northern Plains. Unfortunately, due to the drainage and pollution of those marshlands, black terns are now far less common than they were in my youth.
Yesterday, having not yet seen the terns this year, I visited Eagle Bluffs specifically for the purpose of finding them; within a few minutes of my arrival, I observed two black terns on the central channel, snaring small fish and/or insects from the water surface and resting atop wood duck boxes between their sorties. Knowing where and when to look for given species is essential to "birding success;" of course, sightings are never guaranteed but, this time, my past experience was rewarded.
