Gary,


The males could be carrying fish to feed the females. Courtship feeding is common in birds and probably occurs in all terns. Of course they do that when they're planning to breed!


Dennis

----- Original Message -----
From: "Gary Smith" <gsmith at smithandstark.com>
To: dennispaulson at comcast.net, semipalmata at gmail.com
Cc: tweeters at u.washington.edu
Sent: Tuesday, May 22, 2012 10:27:09 PM
Subject: RE: [Tweeters] re: Caspian Terns Breeding around Elliott Bay




On May 2, I saw about 80 Caspian Terns at the north end of Kellogg Island in the Duwamish. I just observed them sitting and flying ? I didn?t look for, nor see, evidence of nesting. Several times this spring as I was driving over the West Seattle high bridge I have looked up and observed Caspian Terns flying upriver holding fish in their beaks. At first I just thought it interesting that they would be flying so much higher than they hunt, and while carrying food somewhere. Then I thought it interesting they seemed to be doing it often. Would they do that if they weren?t nesting upriver somewhere?



--g




Gary T. Smith

Alki Point





From: tweeters-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu [mailto:tweeters-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu] On Behalf Of dennispaulson at comcast.net
Sent: Tuesday, May 22, 2012 8:11 PM
To: semipalmata at gmail.com
Cc: tweeters at u.washington.edu
Subject: Re: [Tweeters] re: Caspian Terns Breeding around Elliott Bay




Ingrid, those are definitely eggs, but terns usually nest in scrapes, and a bare roof doesn't do a very good job of that. I've seen single eggs dropped like that in places where the birds ultimately didn't nest. I guess all you can do is keep watching them. Their usual clutch size is three, so if you see clumps of three eggs eventually, they are definitely trying.





It's really a tragedy that those terns are discouraged from nesting just about everywhere they go, and our economically important sacred salmonids are the reason they are so persecuted by the authorities. If only terns were good to eat, they might have a fighting chance.





Dennis Paulson





----- Original Message -----


From: semipalmata at gmail.com
To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
Sent: Tuesday, May 22, 2012 8:03:09 PM
Subject: [Tweeters] re: Caspian Terns Breeding around Elliott Bay

Thanks very much, David, for your note about the Caspian Terns -- and for those details from the foreman of the building. I photograph these terns frequently on Elliott Bay, but owing to the distance David described -- from the rooftop to the bridge -- I don't [yet] have super-clear shots of the terns roosting/resting area. I could use some digiscoping to get a better view ? alas, no spotting scope in this household.

These images are admittedly fuzzy, but perhaps they can help establish visually, the scenario described. The first two images show the roof in the past two days, with round objects that look like eggs, but it's difficult to discern without the clarity of sharper glass. I'm still not sure what quality of fun those terns are having on that rooftop. :)

-- Caspian Tern Rooftop from May 21 and 22, 2012:

http://www.thefreequark.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/caspianternroof1.jpg

http://www.thefreequark.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/caspianternroof2.jpg

-- Caspian Terns on Elliott Bay:

loafing on beach at low tide: http://www.flickr.com/photos/taylar/7194696060/in/photostream/
bringing fish to other terns/mates: http://www.flickr.com/photos/taylar/7193881486/in/photostream

Best,
Ingrid Taylar
Seattle, WA





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