9 September 2006 - Pescadero Beach, San Mateo County, California. While photographing the Ruff, I got distracted by this juvenal Elegant Tern. These birds breed in the Sea of Cortez and in a few colonies in Southern California. In the late summer and fall, good numbers disperse northward up the California Coast. The juveniles follow the adults and continue begging from them even though they are hundreds of miles from the colonies where they were hatched. I liked the punk hair style of this one. Notice also that the legs are not quite black yet as they will be when the bird matures. These birds with shorter bills than adults are sometimes confused for other species such as Royal Tern which is now accidental in Northern California. Olympus D-550z / Nikon FieldScope 3 / 30XWA (hand-held - no adapter).