Amazed by a Forster's Tern

Standing on the dune along the Cape Canaveral National Seashore, I watched a foraging Forster's tern working the water just beyond the breaking waves. It flew parallel to the beach, heading north into the wind, looking down at the water for the silver flicker of sunlight reflecting off fish scales.

Catching sight of just such a flash, it stops, planting one wingtip in the invisible air, then cartwheeling into a dive.


Down like a lead arrow, bill-first it plunges. Splash!


Springing up from one Earth element into another, the tern shakes itself, sending small jewels of wet back to the foam. Nothing small and silvery wriggles in its bill. Nothing to show for such mastery of air and water.


And the tern turns again into the wind, pumping forward on white wings dusted with gray.


I watch from the sand—earthbound—slack-jawed and stirred at the wonder of it all.

Ruddy Winter Turnstone

Ruddy turnstone in winter plumage.

This afternoon, while frolicking on the beach at Cape Canaveral National Seashore with daughter Phoebe, I snapped off a few shots of the foraging ruddy turnstones. None of them was in breeding plumage, but then—I forget myself—it's January! They SHOULD be in winter plumage.

Not a whole lot of bird photography on this trip, at least not yet. Though, Phoebe got some nice shots for me of a loggerhead shrike at Viera. Here's one of them:

Loggerhead shrike at Viera Wetlands, FL. 1/27/10 by Phoebe Linnea Thompson

Dillo

While doing some sundown birding with a gang of pals last month on Cape Canaveral National Seashore, I got to enjoy the single-minded foraging routine of this nine-banded armadillo. It's been years since I've seen an armadillo so I made a point of watching this one as long as it would let me.

According to scientists, climate change is going to mean we'll have armadillos in Ohio. They've apparently made it into western Kentucky already. Our winters are too harsh for these hard-to-categorize creatures because they do not carry enough body fat to survive long-term cold (and those shells CAN'T be too warm).

This 'dillo was snuffling along the edge of the parking lot, poking into the shore dune scrub, no doubt seeking insects, ants, grubs or something else tasty to eat.

Armadillo, by the way, means little armored one in Spanish. I considered it buena suerte that I got to see this l'il dillo doing its thing.