One good Tern deserves another!

Those of you who follow my blog fairly regularly will have noticed that Rob and I are avid bird watchers! Something that always puzzles and amazes us is this; no matter how many birds we see flying in flocks or formations, wheeling and swirling, ducking and diving, we have never seen a mid-air collision! Once or twice we have seen a quick backpedalling motion and some ruffled feathers, especially when the leader of a V formation of Sacred Ibis slows down and the chaps in the slipstream suddenly catch up….fast, but never anything to cause a crash or emergency landing! Our village follows five bays along the coastline which means that at any time of the day, we see sea birds. One of the bays, called Moeriese Baai, is home to an uncountable number of Swift Terns. They set off every morning on their forage for food, or whatever they do, and every evening they return. In their hundreds! They spend a lot of time following fishing boats for the jettisoned by-catch and as we live close to the 'Sea Harvest' factory, there are a lot of boats for them to follow!

Terns on the rocks at MoerieseBaai.

Sometimes we take Alfie to that bay at ‘walk time’, to give him a change of scenery (do dogs get bored with the same smells and bushes every day?), and we try to time it with the Return of the Terns! (Could there be a Hitchcock movie in there somewhere?) They land on the rocks, covering them like snow, but will then suddenly take off again to loop the loop and re-settle on the same rocks. What is it that sets them off? They take off en masse almost as though someone has said, 'OK chaps, now!'

On short finals!

Apart from nesting in huge colonies on the rocks, they will nest on odd places like roofs, islands in salt pans, and sewage works! The eggs and sometimes the young birds, are taken by gulls and ibises and of course the wonderful human race like to shoot them and harvest the eggs. Even though these charming activities have caused local populations to decline somewhat, they seem stable at more than 500 000.

'Don't you step on my Blue Suede Shoes!'

The last time we went to Moeriese Baai, we watched a little family bathing at the waters' edge, splashing and flapping, preening and titivating. The mature birds have quaint coifs or crests, which give them an Elvis impersonator look! One had caught a tiny fish and was either feeding a youngster, or trying to impress a lady! They are monogamous and the male will offer fish to the female as part of the courtship ritual.

Dinner is served!

I can identify with that, but make mine grilled, with chips and tartar sauce, please! And a glass of dry white to accompany it!