Backyard and Beyond

Starting out from Brooklyn, an amateur naturalist explores our world.

As John Burroughs said, “The place to observe nature is where you are.”

An Unexpected Lifer

An inland sea: Lake Michigan from Saugatuck Sand Dunes State Park, Michigan. I’d seen this water body from Chicago, but it’s been a while, and never from this vantage point, which is looking westward.

South.

North. Look at those dune heights in the distance!

Or right behind me.

Now, looking back over the water. I think from a distance I thought gull, but as it passed by I took shots realizing it was a tern.

My first view of a Caspian Tern/Hydroprogne caspia

(Caspian Water Martin, if you translate that binomial.)

mthew

One response to “An Unexpected Lifer”

  1. charlesmcalexander28

    It’s hard to forget your first look at a Caspian Tern. It’s markings say tern, but it is the size of a large gull and has a spear point of a bill suited for rendering large prey edible. Definitely a bruiser of a bird.

    Reply

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