March 20, 20215 yr This week's bird is the Interior Lesser Tern. It has just been taken off the endangered species list but is still protected by the Migratory Bird Regulations. The quality of these pictures is not very good because they were so far away. I had my zoom out to 500mm but I could still not clearly see them. I cropped them as close as I could without making the pictures grainy. It was a team effort. The biologist and I were out counting birds and he spotted the terns. I set my camera on a tripod and framed the distant birds. He was looking at them through a 40 power spotting scope and he told me when to snap the pictures. 1 - The male tern offers the female a fish. 2 - The female accepts the fish. 3 - They get it on. The scenario is quite familiar to most of us except instead of fish we use flowers, candy and diamonds. About 6 or 8 pairs of terns would nest during the summer at the refuge. But we were lucky if one pair managed to raise a brood to fly off with them in the fall. They just laid their eggs on bare sand. Thunderstorms would wash the eggs away or drown the nestlings. Heat spells would destroy the eggs. And they were easy prey for coyotes. Noel The tires are worn. The shocks are shot. The steering is wobbly. But the engine still runs fine.
March 26, 20215 yr On 3/20/2021 at 6:03 AM, birdguy said: The scenario is quite familiar to most of us except instead of fish we use flowers, candy and diamonds. and number 3 is not always assured! Mark Robinson Part-time Ferroequinologist Author of FLIGHT: A near-future short story (ebook available on amazon) I made the baby cry - A2A Simulations L-049 Constellation Sky Simulations MD-11 V2.2 Pilot. The best "lite" MD-11 money can buy (well, it's not freeware!)
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.