F/5.6, 1/500, ISO 200.
Elegant Tern
What happened when a faucet, a tomato and lettuce were in a race?
The lettuce was ahead, the faucet was running and the tomato was trying to ketchup.
Interesting Fact: Approximately 90-97% of all Elegant Terns nest in one colony on Isla Rasa in the Gulf of California, Mexico. ( https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Elegant_Tern/lifehistory )
F/10.0, 1/400, ISO 250.
Common Terns
How do birds fly?
They just wing it!
Interesting Fact: Common Terns nest in colonies on the ground in areas with loose sand, gravel, shell, or cobble pebbles typically less than 350 feet from the water. They tend to choose areas with scattered, low-growing vegetation to provide cover for chicks. ( https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Common_Tern/lifehistory )
F/5.6, 1/500, ISO 320.
Elegant Tern
How do you organize an outer space party?
You planet.
Interesting Fact: The oldest recorded Elegant Tern was at least 20 years, 11 months old when it was found in California in 2010, the same state where it had been banded in 1989. ( https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Elegant_Tern )
F/5.6, 1/320, ISO 400.
Ring-billed Gull
What do you call a man with seagull on his head?
Cliff
Interesting Fact: Migrating Ring-billed Gulls apparently use a built-in compass to navigate. When tested at only two days of age, chicks showed a preference for magnetic bearings that would take them in the appropriate direction for their fall migration. The gulls also rely on landmarks and high-altitude winds to provide directional cues. ( https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Ring-billed_Gull/lifehistory )
F/5.6, 1/500, ISO 400.
Heermann’s Gull
How do you communicate with a fish?
Drop him a line!
Interesting Fact: The Heermann’s Gull is the only North American gull that breeds south of the United States and comes north to spend the nonbreeding season. After breeding is over in July, the gull quickly comes north all the way to southern Canada. It heads back southward by December, and most breeders are at the breeding islands by March. ( https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Heermanns_Gull/lifehistory )
F/ 5.6, 1/500, ISO 100.
Caspian Tern
Why did the cookie go to the hospital?
Because he felt crummy.
Interesting Fact: The Caspian Tern aggressively defends its breeding colony. It will pursue, attack, and chase potential predatory birds, and can cause bloody wounds on the heads of people who invade the colony. The entire colony will take flight, however, when a Bald Eagle flies overhead, exposing the chicks to predation from gulls. ( https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Caspian_Tern/overview )
F/13.0, 1/640, ISO 320.
Ring-billed Gull
Two Police officers are talking:
A naked women robbed a bank.
Nobody could remember her face.
Interesting Fact: Ring-billed Gulls near Tampa Bay, Florida, became accustomed to feasting on garbage at an open landfill site. Then, in 1983, operators replaced the dumping grounds with closed incinerators. The thwarted scavengers found themselves another open dump, but the pattern continues all across the gull’s range. When waste-management practices shift from open landfills to closed incinerators, gull numbers often drop. ( https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Ring-billed_Gull/lifehistory )
F/13.0, 1/640, IOS 400.
Common Tern ( Juvenile )
Why was the computer tired when he got home?
Because he had a hard drive.
Interesting Fact: The oldest recorded Common Tern was at least 25 years, 1 month old, when it was recaptured and rereleased during banding operations in New York. ( https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Common_Tern/lifehistory )
F/ 5.6, 1/500, ISO 250.
Elegant Tern
What did one eyeball say to the other eyeball?
Between you and me something smells.
Interesting Fact: The Elegant Tern was first found nesting in the United States in 1959 in San Diego Bay, California. Since the 1980s, several more colonies have been established in California. ( https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Elegant_Tern/lifehistory )
F/11.0, 1/500, ISO 320.
Laughing Gull
Why is a river rich?
It has banks on both sides.
Interesting Fact: The adult Laughing Gull removes the eggshells from the nest after the eggs hatch. If the shells are not removed, a piece can become lodged on top of the slightly smaller unhatched third egg and prevent it from hatching. ( https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Laughing_Gull/lifehistory )
Through Open Lens 