Terns.
This blog is a continuation of my Country Island Series, and definitely long overdue! And to make up for it, there will be lots of pictures!
I've been very busy with school, but I'm going to try and be more consistent with my blog posts here on out!
This post will conclude my Country Island 2013 series. I remember my first experience in breeding Tern colonies back in 2011. I was privileged to go to about a dozen islands off the coast of Nova Scotia to conduct Tern surveys, and I remember there being hundreds among hundreds of birds flushing from their nests, some of which start dive bombing you, and even more leaving little presents in the form of 'little white stuff (I won't go into the details...). Needless to say, they didn't want us there. But in the long run, our presence there is the better good of the species, monitoring the populations and reproductive success of these colonies.
The last island I went to that summer was a 5 week stint on Country Island, and I was privileged to go back for 3 months this past summer. Here is a list of my previous Blogs!
Country Island Bird List
Country Island Scenery Part 2/2
Country Island is home to several species of birds, as well as a popular stopover for many spring (and I'd imagine fall) migrants, including seabirds! There are three species of Terns that breed on Country Island (Common [COTE], Arctic [ARTE] and Roseate [ROST]), as well as some uncommon Tern visitors (Black Tern, and in 2012 a Sooty Tern!!). Terns are fascinating birds, and some individuals live into their 30s!!! Its very possible that many of the 3000+ terns that visited Country Island this summer were older than me! Needless to say, most of our work during field season has to do with monitoring the COTEs, ARTEs and ROSTs, which provided amazing photographing opportunities!
I took 1000s of photos of Terns this summer (No Exaggeration!), and here are some of my favouirtes! I've narrowed it down to my favourite 50! Enjoy!
Common Terns
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COTE with a Lumpfish!
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| COTE having troubles swallowing Lumpfish |
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| Common Tern Hover |
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| Nest C37 feeding a Hake to it's young! |
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| COTE with a clutch of FOUR! Not common at all! |
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| White on white. Note the radio transmitter! |
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| COTE on a grid pole |
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| COTE keeping chick warm! |
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| COTE being a good Momma! |
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| COTE telling me to go away! |
Arctic Terns
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| ARTE "The Angel" |
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| ARTE with a lumpfish |
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ARTE switching off the nest during incubation! This was the first nest we
saw this year! |
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| ARTE in flight! |
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| ARTE YAWNNNNN |
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| Another ARTE in flight! |
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ARTE on a Rock. Note the short, stubby legs. This is one
way of differentiating this bird from COTEs |
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| ARTE really keeping young warm! |
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| ARTE - Sees more sunlight than any other animal on the planet! |
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| ARTE in Flight... Again! They are beautiful flyers! |
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| ARTE feeding a Sculpin to its young! |
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| ARTE with a Hake! |
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| ROST in the Beach Pea! |
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| ROST - You get a faint glimpse of his Rosey Breast! |
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| ROST in front of Beach Pea and abandoned lighthouse shed |
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These two birds are very special too me! They were the birds that I helped
band and monitor in 2011! They survived!! |
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| ROST |
Tern Chicks!
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| Still hatching!!! |
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| COTE/ARTE chick (with unhatched sibling in the background) |
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| Peek-a-boo! |
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| He seems complacent in that pencil case! |
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| COTE/ARTE chick |
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| A chick just wandering around in the rain! |
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| Chick among the rocks! |
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| Chick hiding in his 'hobbit hole' in the bog! |
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| ARTE chick having troubles eating this 'big' butterfish! |
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| COTE/ARTE chick - All grown up! |
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| And they began to fly! (This one is in unison with the Guillemot!) |
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| And they like to make cool poses |
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Juvenile tern in molt. I'm leaning towards a ROST, but not 100% on the
identification. He didn't call at all, so I was not able to identify by ear. |
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Your pictures are amazing Brennan!! I'm on the 2014 County Island team :). I sure hope I can get some fantastic pictures like yours! Wonderful blog too. Cheers! Caroline
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