Forster's Terns Again

I've been practicing my tern photography. Even though they are screeching past at rocket-like ninja speeds, I've figured out a few things that helped me get some slightly better shots.

First, the terns are somewhat predictable. They fly in big loops around a certain area (often the bird islands) again and again. So if you miss once, just wait a bit and you'll get a second chance.

Second, the camera's autofocus is way too slow. So to compensate, hold the button halfway and keep on holding it, locking in the focus at the right depth. Even if it takes 5 minutes for the tern to come back.

Third, do not attempt to photograph terns when there are geese nearby.

I also got some blurry photos that serve to illustrate how terns hunt:

Scope out the scene. Fly in a big loop.

Look straight down. There's gotta be a fish somewhere in all that algae.


Swoop down and investigate. Nope, that's not a fish.

Back up for another look. Hover. Oh THERE it is!


And SPLASH!

Gloat. Nyeh-nyeh, I got you fishy!

Pelican Fishing

I was lucky enough to catch the resident white pelican doing a little late-afternoon fishing.

I mentioned before that white pelicans usually fish as a flock, herding the fish into a tight school of easily scooped-up morsels. This one is all alone, but still manages to catch lunch. It uses its beak like a net, sweeping it in an arc and scooping up anything in its path. In the shallow water near shore, each time it scooped, the pelican scraped the muddy bottom and stirred up a lot of silt in the process. Was it searching specifically for bottom-dwelling fish? It didn't seem to mind eating a bit of mud in the process. I noticed that this pelican seems to be right-beaked: it always scooped to the right.


Got one!

The hazards of scooping are, of course, that sometimes you get a bit of algae stuck to your face.