Bird of the Week – Arctic Tern
The Arctic Tern is, beyond question, the grand champion migratory bird in the world. The species breeds in spring and summer in the latitudes of Interior Alaska. It winters as far south as Antarctica, including Deception Island, at 63° S latitude, where this photo was taken.
Arctic Tern, Deception Island, Southern Ocean
Graceful, elegant and buoyant in flight, WC will metaphorically ride the wings of the Arctic Tern back to Alaska for the next series of Birds of the Week.
For more bird images, please visit Frozen Feather Images.
How different would Turn,Turn,Turn be if birds actually wrote the Byrds song? How much ink could be saved if the Byrds went tern instead of touring? What becomes of the sheep joke “I didn’t see that ewe tern”? It was 10 below again today and I’m getting cabin fever already.
Arctic terns are beautiful to watch.
The colony here has had some rough times in recent years but this person got some great photos this year :
http://alaskafloatsmyboat.com/beachcombing/2013/5/27/arctic-terns-at-mendenhall-glacier
(and there is a yummy recipe for kelp pickles linked on the sidebar-
I like kelp relish even more 🙂 )
One good tern deserves another: http://www.flickr.com/photos/zillniazi/9363256901/