The weather has been a hot and muggy and one morning we decided to walk down by the bay and enjoy the breeze off the water. Just by the children’s play area in a marshy area that the swans nest in we sighted some Caspian Terns … in fact quite a few of them on a spit of rocks along the waterfront trail. There were also ducks, geese, gulls, cormorants and the family of swans.
These are new sightings for us. At a quick glance they could be mistaken for gulls but once I had the camera zoom extended I could pick up their distinctive red/orange beaks.
They do nest here locally in a few places and tend to gather after nesting. You can see there was quite a group of them preening and sunning and staring out at the water with ducks and cormorants.
The Caspian tern is the largest of the terns and can be as big as a gull. They can be between 48–60 cm (19–24 in) long, a have a wingspan between 127–145 cm (50–57 in).
They breed by large lakes, like the Great Lakes here in Canada, and also in Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia and New Zealand. They are diving birds and feed mainly on fish.
As usual I take oodles and oodles of photos and then have a hard time choosing the ones to share. I didn’t have my tripod with me this time but did manage to zoom in and hold my hands steady to get the photos.
I do like to print and frame some of the unusual bird photos I take and the Caspian tern will be one of the next ones for me to do.
I wonder if they will be there on the bay the next time we go.
What different birds have you spotted and perhaps photographed lately?
I’m sharing with Wild Bird Wednesday, Nature Notes, Camera Critters, I’d Rather B Birdin’ and Saturday’s Critters.
Have a look at some more of my lens friends photos.
