Black Terns: Moulting and Defending

The Black Tern screeches at me © SB.

The Black Terns who watched me pull over beside a Saskatchewan slough today may have thought I had baby birds on my mind.

(I had no thought of nests. I left the car only to try to take pictures of Smartweed, a pink native wildflower.)

Several Black Terns screeched across the water and circled low above my car — and my head — again, and again, and again, their mottled feathers bright in the July sun.

Only when I saw these photographs did I realize that at least one was carrying a large dragonfly in its beak. Food. Perhaps for itself, or for a fledgling.

I first saw Black Terns at this slough several weeks ago, when members of this breeding colony still wore their sleek black and gray distinctive feathers. Already, these terns are moulting, loosing black in belly patches as they change into their winter under-body white.

Black Tern with Dragonfly  © SB

What are these?  Black Terns  

Location: Near a slough, north of Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada.

Photo date: August 10, 2012.  

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Black Tern: Sky-diving skimmer

Black tern, watching me watching him.© SB  

A row of black terns sat on fence posts along a marsh, watching as I drove down the gravel road.

The terns preened, then flew up and dived down to skim the water, then surfaced, took flight and landed back on the posts, where they dried and preened. Then they skimmed the air and water surface again. And again.

Black terns are easy to identify, as long as their gray/white wings are visible.

As All About Birds says, "In breeding plumage, nothing else quite looks like it."

There were a dozen or more black terns in this part of the marsh, along with at least as many common terns. (I stopped for a picture as a cloud of them flew over, but they flew to fast for me to focus.) 

The  black terns appeared to be catching more insects from the air than creatures from the water, but their hunting ground was over the slough. 

Black tern in flight © SB 

Black tern on the slough.© SB 

What is this?  Black Tern  

Location: Near Yellow Grass, Saskatchewan, Canada.

Photo date: June 16, 2012.  

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