Taranui - Caspian Tern - Sterna caspia
The quality of these photos is poor as I was a long way away and shooting directly into the light, so the photos are heavily cropped and grainy. However I was intrigued by the hunting behaviour of this tern using a very strong wind to more-or-less hover over the lake to spot fish then make sudden plunge dives to capture them, and thought it was worth keeping the shots as a record of natural behaviour, at least until I get something better.
The largest of the native terns in New Zealand. They are about 51 centimetres long and weigh 700 grams. They have a white body and silver-grey wings. In the breeding season their black cap tapers to a fine point above an orange-pink bill. Caspian terns feed by plunging for surface-swimming fish; they also take whitebait, bullies and eels. These terns are found throughout the temperate world, except for South America. The New Zealand population wis estimated at 3000 birds. The terns breed mainly around the coast, although some nest inland near Lake Rotorua and on river beds in Canterbury. Colonies are usually close to other terns or gulls. They breed from September to January and lay one to three light-flecked eggs in a shallow scrape on sand. Terns’ chief enemies are black-backed gulls, which eat the eggs and chicks. Chicks fledge at 33–38 days. Caspian terns live about 24 years. Threats are mainly increased human activity including planting of marram grass and/or trees on the bare sand spits they nest on, and disturbance by beach goers, especially the likes of four-wheel-drive and other off-road vehicles.
Taranui - Caspian Tern - Sterna caspia
The quality of these photos is poor as I was a long way away and shooting directly into the light, so the photos are heavily cropped and grainy. However I was intrigued by the hunting behaviour of this tern using a very strong wind to more-or-less hover over the lake to spot fish then make sudden plunge dives to capture them, and thought it was worth keeping the shots as a record of natural behaviour, at least until I get something better.
The largest of the native terns in New Zealand. They are about 51 centimetres long and weigh 700 grams. They have a white body and silver-grey wings. In the breeding season their black cap tapers to a fine point above an orange-pink bill. Caspian terns feed by plunging for surface-swimming fish; they also take whitebait, bullies and eels. These terns are found throughout the temperate world, except for South America. The New Zealand population wis estimated at 3000 birds. The terns breed mainly around the coast, although some nest inland near Lake Rotorua and on river beds in Canterbury. Colonies are usually close to other terns or gulls. They breed from September to January and lay one to three light-flecked eggs in a shallow scrape on sand. Terns’ chief enemies are black-backed gulls, which eat the eggs and chicks. Chicks fledge at 33–38 days. Caspian terns live about 24 years. Threats are mainly increased human activity including planting of marram grass and/or trees on the bare sand spits they nest on, and disturbance by beach goers, especially the likes of four-wheel-drive and other off-road vehicles.