| « Previous | Home | Next » | arctic tern 08 November, 2006 |
 photo: sue lindley the arctic tern, sterna paradisaea, is also known in places as the 'sea swallow for it's characteristic long streaming tail feathers. actually the term 'arctic' is somewhat misleading as the bird commonly spends its summers in northern europe and winters in the antarctic - one hell of a commute! the farne islands are the ideal place for the tern to breed as it generally just lays its eggs on the ground, relying on its razor sharp bill and aggressive character to keep any predator away. in fact we wondered why the boat operators recommended we wore coats with hoods; we soon found out as - passing a chick or egg on the ground - the parents would rise up and deliver swift punishment to our head in the form of a hard peck or a long streak of white guano! several of the bird wardens were to be seen with blood trickling from wounds where they'd accumulated a number of pecks during the course of the day. in late summer the arctic tern makes its long journey down to the antarctic to over-winter. here it spends almost the entire time out to sea, only ocasionally resting on floating objects and the antarctic pack-ice. oh, and apologies for the template-busting size of the image! | |
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Posted by davidlindley Archived under: england, wildlife...and not so wild life |
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