White-fronted Tern, Sterna striata, Thames Coast, New Zealand
Canon 5D, 100-400L
The White-fronted Tern is the most common tern of New Zealand. It
rarely swims, apart from bathing, despite having webbed feet. The
species is protected.
White-fronted Terns feed in large flocks by plunge diving on shoals of smelt and pilchards which have been driven to the surface by larger fish and are easily caught. Like all terns they fly with their heads and bills pointing down to see their prey.
Breeding is between October and January in large colonies on rocky cliffs and offshore islands.
Comments and faves
AmUnivers (73 months ago | reply)
Wow, what a fantastic shot !!
It is nice to learn about White-fronted Tern too, while viewing your photo :)
100-400L ... must be a fantastic lens to have !! :)
*clairity* (73 months ago | reply)
Great catch! You got the fish. ;)
*clairity* added this photo to her favorites. (73 months ago)
aftab. (73 months ago | reply)
Thanks Amelie. In January-February there were few hundreds of these birds here. I just had to aim and shoot. They fly very fast, quite difficult to focus. But the combination of this lens and 5D was fantastic.
aftab. (73 months ago | reply)
Thanks Sharon.
a kind of sparkle (73 months ago | reply)
Wonderful shot, this is great!
minuteman1 (73 months ago | reply)
Great shot!
aftab. (73 months ago | reply)
Thanks all. I was happy to be able to take this shot, as these birds are not very big and they fly very fast, making it quite difficult to focus in flight.
Nicolas Perriault [deleted] (73 months ago | reply)
Amazing one !
Tess_ (73 months ago | reply)
Very nice and sharp action shot!
Great job!
_STANGSTA_ (73 months ago | reply)
Sharp capture! Love the wing formation!
lisak1980 (73 months ago | reply)
What an amazing shot!
AlexandraPhotos (73 months ago | reply)
Wow, what a terrific capture. Just at the right time and the image has lovely clarity
Marrrcelll added this photo to his favorites. (73 months ago)
Marrrcelll (73 months ago | reply)
Awesome capture, a fave!
TIO..., tintinian, and martinkas added this photo to their favorites.
aftab. (73 months ago | reply)
Thank you guys for your kind compliments. I look forward to doing better in future.
Clemme & Leth added this photo to her favorites. (73 months ago)
jhhymas (73 months ago | reply)
It's hard to say how much I admire this! Light! Feathers! The gorgeous wing position!
Emerging Birder added this photo to his favorites. (73 months ago)
Emerging Birder (73 months ago | reply)
Really nice one. You "froze him" in the air :)
Alain Bachellier and Cyrus khamak added this photo to their favorites.
Cyrus khamak (64 months ago | reply)
graet capture. Love the light on the bird and the soft stroles on the wings.
Cheers.
Damien_Toman (59 months ago | reply)
Great capture.
Md. Ziaul Hoque added this photo to his favorites. (53 months ago)
Md. Ziaul Hoque (53 months ago | reply)
Amazing shot! bravo!
M R Hasan (53 months ago | reply)
Wonderful shot mate.
aftab. (53 months ago | reply)
Thanks everybody again for your kind comments and compliments...
kokophess added this photo to their favorites. (52 months ago)
kokophess (52 months ago | reply)
Another beautiful bird capture! I like the way the wings are slightly blurred as it really does add up power to the shot in terms of movement.
boy.microb added this photo to his favorites. (49 months ago)
webted (48 months ago | reply)
Hi, I'm an admin for a group called Bird with prey, and we'd love to have this added to the group!
Great catch...!
truenykr, Isadora Christel, Lazyousuf, .waseq., and cestinotc1 [in pausa] added this photo to their favorites.