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I was kayaking on a beautiful marshy area when I came across this breeding adult, peacefully enjoying the sun.
Common Tern - Sterna Hirundo
It is strongly migratory, wintering in coastal tropical and subtropical regions. Breeding adults have light grey upperparts, white to very light grey underparts, a black cap, orange-red legs, and a narrow pointed bill. Depending on the subspecies, the bill may be mostly red with a black tip or all black. There are a number of similar species, including the partly sympatric Arctic tern, which can be separated on plumage details, leg and bill colour, or vocalisations.
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, and it readily adapts to artificial substrates such as floating rafts. The nest may be a bare scrape in sand or gravel, but it is often lined or edged with whatever debris is available. Up to three eggs may be laid, their dull colours and blotchy patterns providing camouflage on the open beach.
Population:
UK breeding:
12,000 pairs
An American folk name for terns is “striker”—both because they hunt by striking the water and because adults dive-bomb anyone that approaches their nest. Along the Mid-Atlantic coast, Least Terns are often called “little strikers” colloquially.
Common Tern - Sterna Hirundo
Juvenile
It is strongly migratory, wintering in coastal tropical and subtropical regions. Breeding adults have light grey upperparts, white to very light grey underparts, a black cap, orange-red legs, and a narrow pointed bill. Depending on the subspecies, the bill may be mostly red with a black tip or all black. There are a number of similar species, including the partly sympatric Arctic tern, which can be separated on plumage details, leg and bill colour, or vocalisations.
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, and it readily adapts to artificial substrates such as floating rafts. The nest may be a bare scrape in sand or gravel, but it is often lined or edged with whatever debris is available. Up to three eggs may be laid, their dull colours and blotchy patterns providing camouflage on the open beach.
Population:
UK breeding:
12,000 pairs
In the Svalbard settlement of Ny_Alesund (Coordinates: 78°55′30″N 11°55′20″E), Arctic terns appeared to me to be as common as sparrows in most of the world, This breeding beauty was posing on a corner pole.
The terns dive in and the fish jump out. Didn't know I got that shot till I got home. Can you see three fish?
A few weeks ago I discovered this ditch with ca. 15 Black Tern nests. It is a rare species in the Netherlands and the nests are constructed by the foundation that is owning this piece of land. Many nests have a little fence for keeping the young safe from falling into the water, or being predated by nasty creatures.
I went back three times, because it is such a treat to see how they are fed. The picture more a less tells it all, the speeding parent with a giant dragonfly, the young squeeking and opening their beaks, the parent dropping the food on the fly, and then off for another meal. This goes on 16 hours a day!
It is amazing how fast they grow. These chicks four days later started practicing flying, and another 4 days later they were gone.
In the mean time in other nests you could see them almost grow every minute. For sure I will return next year to see this spectacle again!
I think I took about 1000 pictures, many off them worth while showing. Enjoy.
The male brings an offering before pairing and mating.
North Norfolk
Thanks for viewing, and for any favs/comments.
Little Tern - Sterna Albifrons
Norfolk
As seen on BBC Springwatch Ep 7 08/06/2022
This delightful chattering seabird is the UK's smallest tern. It is short-tailed and has a fast flight. Its bill is a distinctive yellow with a black tip. It is noisy at its breeding colony where courtship starts with an aerial display involving the male calling and carrying a fish to attract a mate, which chases him up high before he descends, gliding with wings in a 'V'.
Its vulnerable nesting sites and its decline in Europe make it an Amber List species. It is also listed as a Schedule 1 species in The Wildlife and Countryside Act.
This bird breeds on the coasts and inland waterways of temperate and tropical Europe and Asia. It is strongly migratory, wintering in the subtropical and tropical oceans as far south as South Africa and Australia.
There are three subspecies, the nominate albifrons occurring in Europe to North Africa and western Asia; guineae of western and central Africa; and sinensis of East Asia and the north and east coasts of Australia.[4]
The little tern breeds in colonies on gravel or shingle coasts and islands. It lays two to four eggs on the ground. Like all white terns, it is defensive of its nest and young and will attack intruders.
Like most other white terns, the little tern feeds by plunge-diving for fish, usually from saline environments. The offering of fish by the male to the female is part of the courtship display.
At the beginning of the 19th century the little tern was a common bird of European shores, rivers and wetlands, but in the 20th century populations of coastal areas decreased because of habitat loss, pollution and human disturbance.
The loss of inland populations has been even more severe, since due to dams, river regulation and sediment extraction it has lost most of its former habitats. The Little Tern population has declined or become extinct in many European countries, and former breeding places on large rivers like the Danube, Elbe and Rhine ceased. Nowadays, only few river systems in Europe possess suitable habitats; the Loire/Allier in France, the Vistula/Odra in Poland, the Po/Ticino in Italy, the Daugava in Latvia, the Nemunas in Lithuania, the Sava in Croatia and the Drava in Hungary and Croatia. The status of the little tern on the rivers Tagus and lower Danube is uncertain.
Royal Tern with what I think is a mangrove seedling. I wonder if it mistook it for a fish.
Taken at Fort De Soto, Florida.
As always, thank you so much for stopping by and for leaving any comments or faves, they are very much appreciated.
Common Tern - Sterna Hirundo
It is strongly migratory, wintering in coastal tropical and subtropical regions. Breeding adults have light grey upperparts, white to very light grey underparts, a black cap, orange-red legs, and a narrow pointed bill. Depending on the subspecies, the bill may be mostly red with a black tip or all black. There are a number of similar species, including the partly sympatric Arctic tern, which can be separated on plumage details, leg and bill colour, or vocalisations.
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, and it readily adapts to artificial substrates such as floating rafts. The nest may be a bare scrape in sand or gravel, but it is often lined or edged with whatever debris is available. Up to three eggs may be laid, their dull colours and blotchy patterns providing camouflage on the open beach.
Population:
UK breeding:
12,000 pairs