Terns are certainly one of the amazing wonders of the bird world.  Most stunning is the migration of the Arctic Tern yearly from the Arctic to Antarctic and back.  This summer while catching lots of King Salmon at a remote fish camp on the Nushagak River (this river drains to Bristol Bay – Alaska’s premier sockeye salmon fishery)  I was mesmerized by Arctic Terns.  Both eye- and ear-catching, busy, always busy guarding their young and catching fish to fatten the chicks for the long flight south.  Bills, legs and feet turn blood red during breeding season making them striking in appearance and sharp in call.

Arctic Terns

Arctic Terns

The Dry Tortugas has four species of oceanic (open ocean home) terns that utilize these remote islands for summer nesting.  (more…)

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