Wild Bird Wednesday 190 - White Terns (Part 2)

Of all the birds I saw in Lord Howe, the White Terns (Gygis alba) were probably the most remarkable .  Just pure white, with a blue beak, they were always stunning to watch.  And their behaviour was even more remarkable (if thats possible).

Laying an egg and raising chicks on a bare branch without the slightest hint of a nest is just so unbelievable.  When I was there first, there were no chicks really making themselves seen. (You can see the pictures here).  Six weeks later there were chick to been seen.

Adult with chick

Adult with chick

If you look closely at the two picture above you can see a chick (a grey fluffy lump!) emerging from under the feathers of the adults.  I played a waiting game for a better view, but the terns won!

White Tern Chick 

White Tern Chick 

Eventually, I visited the nest site when the adults were away and got these images.  Before people start commenting about disturbance, this 'nest' was about five feet from the edge of a road, and right next to a foot path at eye level!  It would have been hard for the bird to have laid an egg in a busier place on this rather peaceful island!

This is a slightly larger chick - this one belongs to a different pair of adults than the one above.  As you can see from the angle of my shot, this one is a little over head hight, but was right next to the road.  Unfortunately, this chick did not make it through the week while I could watch it.  I found (what was left of) its body below this branch one morning.  Given that there are no cats on the island, the key suspects in this case are probably the rats on the island.

The chicks that survive grow quickly and shed the fluff!  But they do gain ginger 'smudges' on their plumage.

Juvenile White Tern

Eventually the birds become pure white as adults.  The colour casts you can see in the images below are caused by the birds reflecting coloured light from their surroundings.  I think this is most noticeable in the image of the bird about to land on the tree - where you can see a green cast on the feathers.  The adult birds in flight are a wonder to behold!

All of these pictures - but especially the flight shots - look better bigger - so, click on the images to enlarge them.

And now, for the 190th time, it's your turn.  Click on the blue button and off you go.

An InLinkz Link-up