The Royal Tern chicks are some of the toughest to photograph b/c the adults are so protective of their young. Additionally, they act as a group in protecting their young at the colony which makes it more difficult for them to be predated but also more difficult to isolate and photograph them. The adults will round up a large number of chicks and surround them before moving as a group from one part of the beach to another. It's a group effort. Once in a while, you get lucky with a straggler or in this case with an adult and chick together, but it takes luck and patience. This image is two years old and recently caught my eye b/c of its intimacy. This entire colony was lost this year due to TS Debby.
Canon 1D3,Canon 400DO & 1.4 @ 560mm
F5.6, 1/1250sec, ISO 640, manual mode
Handheld on my belly in the sand
C & C always welcomed and much appreciated.
Marina Scarr
www.marinascarrphotography.com







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