#arctic terns

[sitting-on-me-bum]

Amazingly Long Animal Migrations

Arctic terns in flight

Arctic-Images

[eilooxara]

Ah, the bird watching this time of year, I love to look up and see the... [remembering that what bird species are visible on a given day could reveal my location] arctic terns

[antiqueanimals]

Keith Hope Shackleton (1923-2015), Arctic Tern (1957), oil on canvas

[dougdimmadodo]

Arctic Tern (Sterna paradisaea)

Family: Gull Family (Laridae)

IUCN Conservation Status: Least Concern

Arctic Terns live a life of almost constant migration: they breed in the Arctic circle and surrounding subarctic zone during the northern hemisphere’s summer (typically inhabiting their nesting site from April until August), and upon the end of the breeding season they travel over 24,000km (roughly 14913 miles) to spend the southern hemisphere’s summer in the waters surrounding Antarctica. Depending on where the terns leave from and where they choose to nest, this pole-to-pole migration adds up to a total distance of between 48,000 and 70,000km (29826-43496 miles), making it by far the longest migration carried out by any animal. Arctic Terns feed primarily on young fish (although they will also take crustaceans, molluscs, worms and, where available, insects and berries) and nest in colonies, with each individual returning to the same colony and reuniting with the same mate every year, so long as the male in the pair succeeds in an initial courtship display involving being chased through the sky by the female to show his fitness and providing gifts of fish to show his hunting ability. They nest near the coast by excavating a small ditch in soft, sandy ground, and produce a clutch of 1-3 eggs which are brown and speckled to help them blend in with their surroundings. Both the mother (who stands guard of the nest and incubates the eggs) and the father (who provides fish for his mate and chicks) will fiercely defend their nests from any other animals that come near them, and have been known to drive back threats as large as Polar Bears.  

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Animal Advent Calendar - Day 3

Image Source: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/4449-Sterna-paradisaea

[vyskala]

"With this fish."

Arctic tern proving he'll feed his mate when she on eggs.

White marker, ink pens, watercolour pencils on recycled paper. 15 cm square.

[myfairynuffstuff]

Claire Harkness (b.1970) - Arctic Terns. Watercolour.

[seltzerlizard]

Arctic Terns by Douglas Robert Turek

[cgandrews3]

The Largest Migration on Earth Is Vertical

Every night, a great migration takes place. It's bigger than any you've probably heard of—and even more surprising is that it's vertical.