Sex for Favours - Saunders's Tern - Sternula saundersi
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3200/...4d16b32e0b.jpg
Canon 30D with Sigma 50-500mm f/4-6.3
Spent 8 days in March 2008 on Pirotan Island - Jamnagar Coast Studying their Breeding Biology
Courtship feeding is frequently seen in terns. For instance, in an effort to lure females to their territories in the nesting area, a male Saunder's Tern carries a fish around the breeding colony and displays it to prospective mates. After a pair bond is formed, during the "honeymoon period" the male tern actually feeds the female, and soon thereafter they begin to copulate. During the following five to ten days, both sexes feed themselves, but the male also frequently feeds the increasingly dependent female. For the few days prior to egg laying the female is fed almost exclusively by the male, but this activity declines rapidly as the second and third eggs are laid.
