View allAll Photos Tagged CommonTerns
My goal this morning was to try and get the Common Terns diving and catching fish (if the wind was blowing right and the sun was out). They are easier to capture than the Least Terns, but they are still somewhat erratic. The real challenge though is focusing on the birds near the water, especially if there is any splash. Your camera loses focus quite easily. I did make a few adjustments to my camera settings and I had more success than the other day. This was a lot of fun, although after an hour I was through - too much to do at home. (3 of 4)
Three types of terns regularly breed in Finland. Common tern (pictured), Arctic tern and Caspian tern.
Wrightsville Beach, NC. All taken about 6:30 this morning. I was really anxious to get out and test my camera's eye focus, since I updated its firmware yesterday, and that was one of the updates (although this camera already has probably the best focusing/tracking system of any camera). It seems even better now.
Wrightsville Beach was beautiful today at 6:30 am. It was interesting today watching some of the tern chicks beginning the first stages of flying.
A common tern on the way to its nest for feeding its chicks with the fish just captured.
Seen at one of the lakes in Rye Harbour Nature Reserve where some hundred common terns were breeding this summer.
Sterna hirundo.
Photographed at Warnham Nature Reserve, Horsham, West Sussex
Despite international legislation protecting the common tern, in some areas, populations are threatened by habitat loss, pollution, or the disturbance of breeding colonies.
Stone Harbor Point NJ.
Many thanks to all who take the time to view, comment, and favoring my images. Enjoy the day.
A Common Tern, eyeing up it's lunch - taken at Washington WWT, which we visited on our way to Northumberland.
A common tern (Sterna hirundo, Laridae) in a dive while hunting for fish in Lake Butte des Morts, Terrell's Island Preserve, Winnebago County, Wisconsin.
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Common tern (Sterna hirundo)
From the cycle - Birds of Europe. You can see more my photos from this cycle by entering "Pawel's Birds of Europe" in the search box.
The common tern is a seabird in the family Laridae.
Breeding in a wider range of habitats than any of its relatives, the common tern nests on any flat, poorly vegetated surface close to water, including beaches and islands. The nest may be a bare scrape in sand or gravel, but it is often lined or edged with whatever debris is available. Common terns adapt readily to artificial floating rafts, and may even nest on flat factory roofs. Unusual nest sites include hay bales, a stump 0.6 m (2 ft) above the water, and floating logs or vegetation.
Flat grassland or heath may be suitable in an island environment. This was also the case when I was taking this photo on the Pripyat river island (Ukraine). As you can see the tern lands on its nest located on a colored grassland.
Up to three eggs may be laid, their dull colours and blotchy patterns providing camouflage on the open beach.
Like most terns, this species feeds by plunge-diving for fish, either in the sea or in freshwater, but molluscs, crustaceans and other invertebrate prey may form a significant part of the diet in some areas.
Eggs and young are vulnerable to predation by mammals such as rats and American mink, and large birds including gulls, owls and herons.
Lamotte, Val-d’Or. Émergence, Sterne pierregarin lors d’un sortie au marais Kergus du 8 juin 2025. Si vous agrandissez au bout du bec, l’on voit la proie translucide jaunâtre qui semble s’être échappée… Emergence, Common Tern captured at Kergus marsh on June 8, 2025. If you enlarge at the end of the beak, we see the yellowish translucent prey that seems to have escaped...