Forster's Terns feeding

[Ian Cassell]

I saw this interesting feeding behavior of Forster's Tern's at EB Forsythe NWR. Interestingly, the smaller one is not extremely young (has more of an adult plumage), so I don't really understand what's going on. The adult kept going off to hunt and returning with treats for the young one. I wish the little island on the left weren't there, but then again there wouldn't have been a place for the young one to hang out.

Canon 7D
Canon 500/4 + 1.4x Tripod and Gimbal
1/1000 sec f/8 ISO 400

Viveza 2 to bring up some detail from the shadows
CS6 to crop a bit for composition and sharpen
Noiseware Pro on BG

129742

[Ian Cassell]

Thinking about this a bit ... since they both, by my books, seem to be adult terns in breeding plumage ...

Does the male bring offerings to the female? I know that it looks like the flying tern is carrying a blade of grass, but several times there clearly was an offering of food. The tern on the ground would sit there screaming (like a little kid) as the tern flew in with the offering and then would gobble it down. I didn't see any nest and I saw this behavior repeated several times with other pairs of birds.

[Cheryl Arena Molennor]

It could be a male bringing to the female for courtship but I'm not sure that's what it is. We are capturing that behavior here in Fl now and its always fun to watch. Are you sure these are forster's? Nice behavior image. I like the string of grass and the wave patterns in front

[Ian Cassell]

Thanks, Cheryl. I'm reasonably sure these are Forster's, but am open to correction (these were at the EB Forsythe NWR in NJ and Forster's are quite common there). I googled a little on line and some gulls and terns DO court with food, so that may be it.

[Shawn Zierman]

Certainly looks like Forster's Terns to me, and it also appears to be courtship behavior.
I'd bet there's a small fish or food item towards the tip of the bill, and the weed just came along for the ride... :)
This is a solid behavioral capture. Good exposure work. Captured the action well. The sod(?) mound was a
little unlucky, but regardless, I'd love to have an image like this of this species.

[Randy Stout]

Ian:

THe pose of both birds is nice, good interaction, well exposed, framing.

The sod is the killer for me, esp. because of the dark head against the black/shaded area.

Cheers

Randy

[vishaljadhav]

i like the image for the moment and interaction captured Ian, the timing was important to this frame and you got that perfect

[Robert Kimbrell]

Good behavior shot Ian. I like the open wings on what we presume is the male. I like the eye contact between the pair.