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Let me tell you of the courtship season we are witness to, right outside our balcony, in full view and with no shame! The wharf for the boat juts out in front of the house here on Lake Macquarie and ends with two pylons. On one of those pylons a rather large Crested Tern has sat for most of the day. Every so often it has made mewing sounds and within a minute, out of the sky, comes a slightly smaller Crested Tern, carrying a small fish. The new arrival sits on the second pylon, shifts the fish in its beak, calls softly, hovers over the first bird, then feeds the morsel to it. The pattern has been repeated on numerous occasions, interrupted by shared flights and the occasional Silver Gull who has decided to try to harass the Tern and chase it for the fish. Then there has been a spectacular wheeling in flight until the Tern has out-distanced its rival .. and a returning to the first Tern, fish firmly in place.
Faye tells me that when I was asleep there was a brief mounting, a little scene of sex-in-the-suburbs, but I missed that episode in the life of the Tern!
Brian Everingham
PO Box 269
Engadine
NSW 2233
Australia
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+61 2 95209341
0419260236 (mobile)
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