Socotra vacation

Lesser crested tern (Thalasseus bengalensis)

Western Socotra

On a stretch of coast on the western Socotra, on the way from the village Qalansiyah to the amazingly beautiful Shuab beach, you’ll encounter sheer cliffs and enormous boulders in the sea that came off the cliffs. This is a haven for sea birds, and I encountered many of these lesser crested terns resting on some of these huge boulders that are only accessible by air as they are so steep and sharp.

During my several passes the surface looked all-white on the most densely populated rocks. It was a surreal sight, as the landscape was so incredibly alien and breathtaking.
The deep blues and aquas of the sky and sea, the multitudes of brown, yellow and orange of the rocks with weird looking plants clinging to seemingly just rock. Then all these birds taking off like a white smoke. So much life and vitality in this seemingly dead and alien land.

These terns are migrants and enjoying time off from breeding, and thus the black head plumage is not so striking, and is sharing the rock with a sooty gull (Ichthyaetus hemprichii) – also a migrant
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