Birdwatching - 1758 🐦

🦉 The common tern (Sterna hirundo)

• Sterna stearn, starn (Old English) tern
• hirundo (Latin) swallow

These graceful birds with sharp shapes live near a large river in my city. Already at the end of May you can see them flying along the river in search of fish. Seeing prey, they hover in the air to take proper aim and dive after it.

It is extremely rare that I see them sitting somewhere; there are few places to rest on the river. Even when the river becomes shallow and exposes stones that were hidden under water, these stones are occupied by a large number of seagulls. Apparently the terns have to rest somewhere far away.