View allAll Photos Tagged CommonTerns
(Sterna hirundo)
This photo represents the end of a short story. I saw a tern dive and capture a fish. It landed on a rock with two other terns--seen here. In less than a minute, the other terns decided to partake some of the fish. That was not acceptable with our tern!
Passage sur fond d'iris. C'est marrant, j'avais fait le même style d'image l'an dernier, le 7 mai !
Domaine des oiseaux, Mazères
These delightful silvery-grey and white birds have long tails which have earned them the nickname 'sea-swallow'. They have a buoyant, graceful flight and frequently hover over water before plunging down for a fish. They are often noisy in company and breed in colonies.
www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/bird-and-wildlife-guid...
This common tern was circling around me today. I then realized it was looking for its preys in the water. So I planned my shot to capture this instance when it started to come up from its dive.
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. (4 of 4)
I am way too fond of uploading close up images of birds and what I should do is add some context. So in an effort to redress this fault here’s one of a Common Term which was quartering the Captain Sea shore Baku. The modern concrete and glass jungle can be well seen in the background.
Erieau, Ontario, Canada, Aug 17, 2021.
Seen for the pontoon boat.
Sterna hirundo
Just like adding sandbags to prevent your home from flooding, Common Terns quickly add vegetation, bones, shell fragments, and anything else they can collect to raise their nest if it is threatened by high water.
Source -Cornell Lab of Ornithology- All About Bird
Ocean City NJ 55th. St. Beach.
Many thanks to all who take the time to view, comment and favoring my images. Enjoy the day.
Spotted during a boat trip from Ely to Cambridge today. Shortly afterwards I lost my lens hood overboard, but that is a different story.
Normandy Marsh, Hampshire, July 2022. While we were watching a Lesser Yellowlegs yesterday a couple of Common Terns were fishing in a small channel right in front of us.
Score! A Common Tern hits the water and comes up with a small fish. The fishing was good at this location, so I had lots of chances - also a good thing, because I missed most of them. Fast? These birds are fast! But they were tolerant, too, of a discreet human presence (sitting, or lying back against some comfy rocks for extended periods). A great day for the terns and for me.
When I was a kid, in my early and mid-teens just before I was old enough to drive, I would ride my bike alone along trails through the woods near my home in Quebec. In my twenties, in BC, I discovered wilderness backpacking, and often hiked alone into remote places. It isn't that I reject human company; far from it. But I appreciate solitude, especially in wild places, and that is what makes Saskatchewan so perfect for me at this late stage in my life: there are few remaining places where one can be alone.
I don't have to worry about whether this person will allow his dog to run the wildlife, or that family will leave a bunch of litter in their wake, or this bozo will decide it's a good idea to skip rocks across the water directly in front of me while I'm trying to photograph water birds. Fewer people means fewer conflicts and/or less necessity to try to educate people about behaviour in natural areas. For example, no bear jams. Admittedly, no bears. But twenty years ago when I started hanging out in prairie places, I was astounded to discover how much wildlife thrives here. It's Canada's best kept secret. Sshhh!
Photographed at Lonetree Lake, Saskatchewan (Canada). Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission ©2021 James R. Page - all rights reserved.
Frampton Lakes.
This summer visitor to Britain & Ireland is the most familiar of our terns thanks to its habit of inland nesting, a behaviour common across part of its wider range but absent in the larger Scottish colonies.
Common Terns arrive from the middle of April, departing again in late summer for wintering grounds that stretch south from the coast of Spain and around Africa's western seaboard. (BTO).
My thanks to anyone who clicks or comments on this photo. It is much appreciated.