This bird set alarm bells off around the world, as it had a bright orange, pale-tipped bill, plus a few other features that could point towards Royal Tern - shape of black cap, overall paleness, bill shape.
I managed to recover the deleted images from my memory card (thanks Gal!), and the bird is a caspian after all. Note especially the extensive dark wingtips and short tail. It had my adrenalin pumping for a few hours but eventually we did not screw up a first for Israel as I was afraid (and hoping...).
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmCQmlizD8sI4KnZtfz8Q469yNcY5mLd_rjTDiEQok_UPj3EpTqxUlc_iJBUqhWFwmjJdggClnnK41LBIGuGkV4jTWwZKraxyiHnNNGJi-ilOfvctLXV6ijyWHoEY8-CxHWUTeFcwzW5p9/s400/tern1.jpg)
i love these noble birds!! superb capture!!
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