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Robin,
I'm
not a Little Tern expert but sorry
you have guessed wrong. Surely these are Crested Terns. (A far more
common species). Pictures 4 & 5 show an obvious crest and none show the face
markings of Little Terns, also grey, rather than white tails. Little Terns are
much smaller than Crested Terns.
Philip
In the hot
weather we're having here in Canberra, some seaside images may be refreshing! I
had a couple of days down at Bawley Point over New Year, and enjoyed observing a
colony of what I believe to be Little Terns (please correct me if I've
wrongly guessed the species). One facet of their behaviour that was quite
intriguing was when birds returned to the colony with fish. They would typically
sweep over the colony squawking loudly, then land in various spots and continue
the squawking - perhaps trying to locate their young? When on the ground, both
the bird with the fish and others nearby would adopt a very different pose with
wings flared out. The sequence of pictures below illustrates the behaviour
...
(Click on
any thumbnail for a larger view)
Regards ... Robin
Eckermann
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