Nesting Least Terns

Least Terns are one of the most aggressive birds when it comes to defending their nesting sites from humans and other predators.  They will dive bomb you, they will crap on you, they will screech at you and they will even run into you.  But when I visited a nearby Least Tern colony via kayak this evening I didn't experience any of that.  I attribute that mostly to my knowledge of these birds after years of being around them and a few summers monitoring them.  However, I was also able to tuck in behind some vegetation which made me less visible and I think the fact that these birds are in a remote location they don't necessarily perceive man as a threat like their friends who nest at popular ocean and bay front beaches.  Either way, it was a real treat for me to photograph them so close.  In the above image, the least tern was trying to evade the other which had "goosed" it in a dispute over territory.

Above: The Least Tern after it was not so nicely told to get away.
Below: A Least Tern doing a little yoga. . .

Least Terns are very hard to catch in flight, but sometimes they hover which makes it slightly easier.

And one more flight shot for good measure. . .

If you are like me and have an affinity for birds, check out this guide book to birds on the east coast: National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of Eastern North America (National Geographic Field Guide to Birds)

Least Tern Colony

This evening I went for a beautiful Kayak Ride in Flanders Bay and headed to a salt pond that I had seen on aerials and wanted to check out.  Since it was high-tide I knew I'd be able to kayak into and out of the pond (it's heavily shoaled up so the entrance isn't accessible via kayak during low tide).  When I got near the inlet I noticed a Least Tern Colony being established on the spit of dry land.  It appears that courting was still going on as there was a lot of "passing of the fish" (see below) going on and I didn't notice any birds sitting on nests, though it was a little tough to tell since I stayed in my kayak.  

I hope you enjoy these shots of the Least Terns - I was certainly happy to stumble upon them.

There also were a few shorebirds that were feeding on horseshoe crab eggs and other bits of food along the edge as two horseshoe crabs finished copulation and gently slipped back into the water.

Here is a shot of a semi-palmated sanderling with a very small egg in its bill (the size of a grain of sand - pardon the massive crop!).  It's not a horseshoe crab egg, which are green but the egg of some other invertebrate which will remain unknown to me.  

If you're looking for more information about Horseshoe crabs and how they effect the lives of shorebirds, check out this book: Horseshoe Crabs and Shorebirds: The Story of a Food Web

Or, if you are looking for some more info on Diamond-backed Terrapins, look no further than this cool title: Marvels in the Muck: Life in the Salt Marshes