wklein

Feeding time

Thousands of Royal Terns and Laughing gulls all nesting together is a sight to be seen and heard. There is a continuous flow of adults terns flying off and retu...
Read more

Thousands of Royal Terns and Laughing gulls all nesting together is a sight to be seen and heard. There is a continuous flow of adults terns flying off and returning with food. From what I understand the parents identify their young by sounds and sight, which can take some time when there are thousands of chicks grouped together. Because of the constant threat of a laughing Gull stealing their catch, once a parent finds it’s chick the feeding happens very quick. The hand-off pictured here took less then a half second. I have witnessed gulls pull fish right out of the mouth of chick that did not swallow it fast enough. Jacksonville beach Florida - USA
Read less