White-fronted Terns

blog-IMG_8072 The day started out with brilliant sunshine, a perfect day for kingfishers. However I had made a decision not to go climbing any more hills for a while to let my feet recover a bit, so we headed round the bays instead. The plan was lunch at the Chocolate Fish and to stop wherever we saw anything of interest to photograph.  By the time we hit Cog Park it was obvious that it was a day for the White-fronted Terns.blog-IMG_8036  The old wharf was absolutely covered in birds and the majority of them were terns.  It was amusing to watch them as they were herded down the wharf by a black backed gull and a couple of oyster catchers.  Once the space was cleared the gull took up residence with loads of space around him.  I don’t particularly like photographing wildlife on man made objects but I made an exception this time because I liked the lines the wharf rails gave me.blog-IMG_8102After lunch we drove further around past Shelley Bay and there were terns on almost every corner. I found myself a spot to park and went in search of where they were resting.  Again they were on a man made structure – a retaining wall, because there were fishermen on their rocks!  They obviously easily adapt to their surroundings and looked quite comfortable with me wandering around them and it became easy to predict where the next bird was going to land.  blog-IMG_8157Further round the bay I found some on the rocks and I was lucky enough to capture some feeding in the water. They were in pretty close so it is not such a huge crop as it might have been.blog-IMG_8259   blog-IMG_8435 There were heaps of opportunities for awesome shots but as I was supposed to be resting my feet I didn’t stay out with them too long. blog-IMG_8443

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