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Thread: Elegant Tern (revisited) and a question

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    BPN Member Tim Foltz's Avatar
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    Default Elegant Tern (revisited) and a question

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    Canon 1DX • 700mm • 1/4000 • f/6.3 • ISO 400 • handheld • manual

    one of my first posts on BPN revisited.

    My question is has anyone experienced mass exodus of nesting sites this year? This year we had over 10,000 Elegant terns nesting at our local wetlands and was looking forward to a great season.
    Midway through nesting they were all gone (about the 2nd week of July). The season usually lasts through August enabling us to get the parents hunting for their young.
    No one I have talked to seems to know the reason... predation, weather or lack of food? I would appreciate any ideas on this, thanks so much.

    -Tim

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    Avian Moderator Randy Stout's Avatar
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    Tim:

    Superb timing, open bill with well positioned fish, dynamic wing position.

    The images reads just a bit cool on my monitor, but certainly could be accurate.

    Your sig is a bit distracting .

    Wish I had an answer about the behavior of the terns.

    Some artifacts in the repost from the very small file size you posted.

    Randy
    Last edited by Randy Stout; 08-15-2018 at 08:21 PM.
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  3. #3
    BPN Member Tim Foltz's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Randy Stout View Post
    Tim:

    Superb timing, open bill with well positioned fish, dynamic wing position.

    The images reads just a bit cool on my monitor, but certainly could be accurate.

    Your sig is a bit distracting .

    Wish I had an answer about the behavior of the terns.

    Some artifacts in the repost from the very small file size you posted.

    Randy

    Thanks Randy, the blue cast is do primarily because the tern is directly over water but I guess I could tone it down a bit.

    Thanks Again -Tim

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    Nice catch on the tern!

    I heard about the event you are describing from several SoCal birders/photographers. I'm not sure there is any definite answer, but it would be hard to argue/deny that water temperatures might have something to do with what's going on. I'm in SD right now, and the water along the beach has been 75 - 78 degrees. That's apparently the warmest the water down here has ever been, and it's totally conceivable that large swings in temperature have somehow affected the terns, probably through one of their food sources. Heermann's Gulls, for example, really struggled to breed in the Gulf of California a few years ago when a similarly warm-water even occurred down there, during the last El Niρo. The population basically fledged no young for 3 straight years. We were all really worried until the water cooled down last year and we started seeing juveniles in Cali late in the summer as we did before the collapse.

    There have also been some really interesting pelagic birds seen offshore in the past few weeks, and those observations also suggest something is happening with the ocean. I'll be on the ocean a lot these next few months as I lead pelagic birding trips each weekend here in NorCal, so it'll be interesting to see what trends I observe up here. Species like Buller's Shearwater are a really good bell-weather for what the ocean is doing. When the water is cold, they're all over, but when the water is warm, they're really scare.

    OK, enough. You get the idea by now!

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    Hi Tim, nice to see you posting again. I like Randy's repost, less blue cast as noted, love the action you caught, position of the fish in the open beak is way cool! TFS

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    Publisher Arthur Morris's Avatar
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    The face and the fish and the timing and the sharpness are exquisite. My only wish is that the near-wing were full raised so that it would have been fully lit.

    It is not at all uncommon for entire tern colonies to simply up and leave in the middle of the nesting season. I am sure that the reasons vary but it many very well have to do with food supply and thus with water temps as suggested.

    with love, artie
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    Lifetime Member David Salem's Avatar
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    One of the best fish flip shots ever, next to mine Seriously, a great shot with killer action, detail and exposure. All the ingredients for a great frame!! Well done
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