Eclectic Echoes

On our recent trip to Enders Island, we were treated to a marvelous display of a pair of Common Terns flying in formation as they hunted for schools of fish near the surface. The terns would hunt and swoop over the fish about 60-70 meters out into the sound, then race back to the rocks along the island. They repeated this at least four times before I noticed the juvenile sitting on a rock further down the island calling to the two adults. The lead adult had a small clupeoid fish in its beak and the trailing tern would not let the lead bird get clear. Eventually it did get clear long enough to and next to the juvenile and transfer the fish. The adult was airborne again in probably 5 seconds.

Terns are considered threatened in many states, including Connecticut and Rhode Island where the colony nesting sites are protected.

These two were hitting the water going after herring or some other clupeoid fish that were breaking the surface to escape submerged predators. Fish such as herring and sand lance make up the majority of the terns diet. They terns will also eat crustaceans, polychaetes and insects though that is less common.

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Subphylum

Vertebrata

Class

Aves

Order

Charadriiformes

Family

Laridae

Genus

Sterna

Species

Sterna hirundo