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An Arctic Tern Summer

As migratory birds go, the Arctic Tern seems to be the acknowledged world champion. They are a common sight at Neebish in the summer, as there is an enormous tern rookery on nearby Lime Island.

The Arctic Tern doesn't just fly south in the winter -- it flies to Antarctica in the winter. This bird makes an annual journey roughly equivalent to the circumference of the planet. Every year. For about 20 years (that's how long they live). This is one of those notions that sets me vaguely wondering if migrating terns might move weather systems as they go, or affect the rotation of the earth.

Nearly every evening this summer, a lone arctic tern hovered and dove for little fish at the end of our dock. He had a missing flight feather on his left wing, and I learned to recognize him. He clearly had no regard for me one way or another. He was hungry, and busy.

I decided this bird's aerobatics would be a good way to test the limits of my camera's processor speed, shutter lag, and auto-focus. I figured it would also be a chance for me to practice panning a moving subject, so I wasn't expecting to get much in the way of results. (I'll say more, in different context, about the zen of knowing your camera...)

I shot as many frames per second as the camera would go, doing my best to keep the bird somewhere, anywhere in the frame. This creature had been hovering over an Antarctic sea a few months ago. He banked and slipped in the off-shore breeze from the warm cedars, then tipped suddenly downward straight into the water. No fish. Another wide circle, then a low pass, and he pinged the surface of the river once, twice, like a skipping stone. I caught the briefest glimpse of a slender silvery fish in his pink beak.

I noticed that his feet were pink, too, always tucked smooth and flat behind the curve of his belly.

Unless there was a storm, he fished there each evening. He fished until sunset. Each time, when the globe of the sun sank from view, he turned without another glance at the water's surface, and beat steadily downriver toward the rookery. LV

This is just one in a series of articles and photo portfolios of Neebish Island. You're invited to subscribe to The NewsFEATHER (see the navigation bar, above left), so you won't miss the wildlife, the riverscapes, or the freighters.