7 : Arctic Tern

Arctic Tern - Sterna Paradisaea

I took this picture in Iceland in I think June 2008 - I cannot remember the exact date. I went up to Iceland 4 days early for a friends "stagdo". I went Whale watching and birding and then joined the scrum for the festivities in Rekyavic. 

This was not the first time I had seen an Arctic Tern. I finally caught up with them in Islay on a family holiday. My brother had declared that he and Uncle Alan had seen one at Fingringhoe Wick when we were kids. It sounded so exotic. Actually it was !! Good on you Mark - it took me another twenty-five years to see one.

I have a favourite book - Macmillan Guide to Bird Identification. It comprises a series of essays with useful illustrations on confusion species for UK birders. There is a short chapter on telling Common and Arctic terns apart. In Islay I was able to run through the identification checklist to separate an Arctic from a Common Tern - longer winged, longer tail, deeper forked, translucent primaries, trailing edge to wing with a thin black line. Shorter legged - not sure I've seen that. Sitting on a shingle nest I could see that they were different. Click on the photo above and you will see the thin eyeliner down the trailing edge - but look at that tail - streamers ! 

In essence though when you realise the journeys these birds make - Arctic to Antarctic, year on year you can easily see which birds are Arctic Terns and which are Commons. It may be subtle but they are flat race horses in comparison to point to pointers. They are bulit to perfection for long distance travel. The swifts of the sea. 

In Iceland I had few issues with worrying about whether they were Common Terns or Arctic Terns. There are 250,000-500,000 breeding pairs of Arctic Terns in Iceland. As far as I know Common Terns do not breed in Iceland so I was fairly safe calling this as an Arctic Tern without running my identification list. 

Up there where the sun never sets and the air is crisp they do look to all the world like angels. The sun shines through those wings and they power across blue skies. They seem in their element in Iceland. Iceland feels like the edge of the known world. Volcanic black sand beeches and a blazing clear Northern light. 

I leave you with a picture of my mate David - he came a day or two early and ended up having birds and whales and stuff inflicted on him. I think he enjoyed it. We went on a tour of waterfalls one day by minibus. 

You can't really tell its David. I am not sure that the picture of the Arctic Tern is the best. It does remind of a lovely moment - these birds are very special. 

Arctic Tern - Sterna paradisaea

Iceland - June 2008