For the last few weeks there's been a small ternery of Caspian Terns resting at the Chicago Botanic Gardens. If you keep your eyes open, you might see one fly by just about anywhere on the grounds. They're a white, gull-like bird with a black cap and a very large orange beak.
If you want to see some for sure, head to the far end of the prairie. The drainage pond on the southwest edge isn't pretty to look at (being a drainage pond and not part of the maintained lagoon system, there tends to be a lot of garbage washed into it), but it's usually a great place for birds. This pond was the home to a group of Northern Shovelers earlier this spring, and besides the Terns and some gulls, currently has several Blue-winged Teals hanging out in it.
The ternery (yes, a group of terns is called a ternery) is about 20-30 birds, I'd guess.
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| Some of the Ternery |
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| Caspian Tern |
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| With a yummy fish |
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| Caspian Tern |
The terns mainly catch fish by aerial dive, and if your lucky you may get there when the terns have found a school of fish and go into a diving frenzy. I got to witness this when I first saw these guys. Really cool to see.
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| Diving Terns |
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| Shaking off excess water |
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| Another tern with a yummy fish |
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| This fellow was trying to eat his fish as he flew away |
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| Diving! |
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| Looking for fish to dive for |
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| Awww... all that hardwork and he dropped his fish! |
I'm hoping to get better shots when the light is a little less harsh, but I am pretty happy that I managed to get what I got.
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| Caspian Tern |
