Arctic Tern Courtship

Yesterday my buddy Bryce and I took a day off from Gyrfalcon nest searching to do some birding around Nome. The weather was extremely dreary and foggy, making it near-impossible for us to locate Gyrfalcon nests. The visibility around Nome was pretty poor, but we happened upon two Arctic Terns in courtship perched on a electrical wire.

Arctic Terns (Sterna paradisaea) have the longest known migration of any bird in the world. Every year they travel from their northern arctic breeding grounds all the way to Antarctica and back again, covering up to 25,000 miles. A truly mind-boggling number.

One member of this pair of terns kept plunging into the shallow water of a small pond directly in front of us, looking for small fish. Every once in a while, it would emerge from the water successful.

After shaking itself free of excess water the tern would fly circles around it’s prospective mate, still perched on the wire calling in their high-pitched squeaky voice. The tern would then fly in and hover above it’s mate, delicately passing the fish off to it’s partner.

This behavior help the terns establish a pair-bond, and also shows the presumable female tern that her mate is capable of catching fish on demand. An important skill once there are hungry nestlings to feed.

I’m looking forward to seeing more Arctic Terns this summer, especially in better lighting conditions. They are one of my favorite birds to photograph.