Shove Off!
Originally uploaded by eclectic echoes.
A juvenile common tern coming in for a landing on a small rock in the sound, forcing the adult that was occupying the rock off to find a new place to perch.
I spent an hour or so on one of the beaches down in Waterford the other day (the same place and day that the Mystic Whaler shot was taken). I just watched the sound and the shore birds along some of the rocks and jetties. The funny thing about many of these birds is that they see a place where another bird is “perched” and decide that it’s a nice spot to stop. Not that the rock itself is a nice spot – whether the rock is 20 square feet or a half a square foot – no, they decide to land in the exact couple of inches as one of the other birds.
The rock in this photo also was the site of this type of musical chairs game. Over the course of the hour I was there it must have been the temporary perch to at least 30 birds. Some left of their own accord to fly further down the beach, but most, like the adult in the photo, were “pushed” off by another bird landing. I watched cormarants, gulls and terns all displace each other, and even one female duck. It is often comical, especially if the “pushed off” one circles round and reclaims his spot. I watched one pair of cormorants (both juvenile double cresteds) play musical chairs like this with each other repeatedly on a piling in the Mystic estuary. They switched places about 10 times over the course of a 10-15 minute period.
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just like all “kids” – aren’t you glad YOU didn’t have siblings?!
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