Eclectic Echoes

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This juvenile common tern reminded e of air more that any other picture I have taken recently. I really enjoy photographing birds in flight though it more often than not result in less than optimum photos. A skill I really need to work on more.

Among my favorites to photograph are swallows and terns. These are the acrobats, the sleek highly maneuverable species which remind me of the Thunderbirds flying precision high G passes. This juvenile tern for example is still being fed by the adults, but here it is carving a path through the air, twisting and turning with great control. Later in the same session I watched one of the adults approach and hand off a herring to the juvenile smoothly without landing. It hovered for a minute as it put the fish in the juveniles mouth then took of again like a rocket.

Watching a tern fish, alternately scouting, hovering and diving head first into the water is a great way to pass an hour or even two.

Classification

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Aves

Order

Charadriiformes

Family

Sternidae

Genus

Sterna

Species

Sterna hirundo

Life Photo Meme,

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