Greater Crested Tern With Chick

by Lesley Evered

Title

Greater Crested Tern With Chick

Artist

Lesley Evered

Medium

Photograph - Camera: Pentax K30

Description

A Greater Crested Tern with its chick on the beach of Penguin Island, Shoalwater, Western Australia where there is a very large breeding colony.

This picture was placed in the following 3 contests:
> shared 4th in "Terns IN Australia" in the Birds IN Australia group, 22nd July 2021.....
> shared 3rd in "Your Favourite Bird In Australia" in the Birds IN Australia group, 18th December 2021....
> shared 3rd in the contest "Terns In Australia in the group Australia In Pictures, 17th November 2023....

This picture has been featured in the following 12 groups:
FAA Portraits, 24th May 2020.........................
Beach Moments, 25th May 2020..............
Macro Marvels, 25th May 2020............
Animal Photographs, 25th May, 2020..............
Beautiful Birds, 25th May 2020..........................
Just Perfect, 25th May 2020.............
Birds IN Australia, 17th April 2021.....
Australia In Pictures, 30th October 2021...
If The Image Excites You, 30th October 2021...
The Space Between, 30th October 2021....
Wisconsin Flowers And Scenery, 2nd November 2021....
Poetic Poultry, 4th November 2021....

The greater crested tern (Thalasseus bergii), also called crested tern or swift tern, is a tern in the family Laridae that nests in dense colonies on coastlines and islands in the tropical and subtropical Old World. Its five subspecies breed in the area from South Africa around the Indian Ocean to the central Pacific and Australia, all populations dispersing widely from the breeding range after nesting. Like all members of the genus Thalasseus, the greater crested tern feeds by plunge diving for fish, usually in marine environments; the male offers fish to the female as part of the courtship ritual.
The greater crested tern is a large tern with a long (5.4–6.5 cm or 2.1–2.6 in) yellow bill, black legs, and a glossy black crest that is noticeably shaggy at its rear. The breeding adult is 46–49 cm (18–19.5 in) long, with a 125–130 cm (49–51 in) wing-span; and weighs 325–397 g (11.4–14.0 oz). The forehead and the underparts are white, the back and inner wings are dusky-grey. In winter, the upperparts plumage wears to a paler grey, and the crown of the head becomes white, merging at the rear into a peppered black crest and mask.
The adults of both sexes are identical in appearance, but juvenile birds are distinctive, with a head pattern like the winter adult, and upperparts strongly patterned in grey, brown, and white; the closed wings appear to have dark bars. After moulting, the young terns resemble the adult, but still have a variegated wing pattern with a dark bar on the inner flight feathers.
(Wikipedia)

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May 24th, 2020

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