Sterna antillarum browni

Posted 10 February 2014 by

Photograph by Marschal Fazio. Photography contest, Honorable Mention.
Sterna antillarum browni -- California least tern. Mr. Fazio writes, "This species is listed as endangered under the Federal Endangered Species Act. It nests along the California coast on sandy shorelines; as humans have encroached, the tern has lost much of its nesting habitat and now nests in overcrowded sites or mudflats, making them more prone to predation."

13 Comments

https://me.yahoo.com/a/JxVN0eQFqtmgoY7wC1cZM44ET_iAanxHQmLgYgX_Zhn8#57cad · 10 February 2014

Sharp!

Especially that front part.

Glen Davidson

ksplawn · 10 February 2014

Let's hope its numbers don't take a tern for the worse.

KlausH · 10 February 2014

Browni????
Is that part of the "No Tern left unstoned" joke?

Henry J · 10 February 2014

Let us tern this discussion around...

Matt Young · 10 February 2014

I am sorry, but you made me do it:

To tell the Turnip from the Tern, A thing which everyone should learn, Observe the Tern up in the air, See how he turns,--and now compare Him with this inert vegetable, Who thus to turn is quite unable, For he is rooted to the spot, While as we see the Tern is not: He is not always doomed to be Thus bound to earth e-_tern_-ally, For "Cooked to a turn" may be inferred, To change the Turnip to the Bird. Observe the Turnip in the pot. The Tern is glad that he is not!

– Robert Wood, How to tell the Birds from the Flowers and other Wood-cuts. Wood was an expert on optics; I have used his 1911 Physical Optics book many times, into the '90's.

https://me.yahoo.com/a/JxVN0eQFqtmgoY7wC1cZM44ET_iAanxHQmLgYgX_Zhn8#57cad · 10 February 2014

One good tern deserves another.

That's why they pair...

Glen Davidson

Just Bob · 11 February 2014

This has taken a tern for the worse.

Just Bob · 11 February 2014

And thanks to evolution, someday the worm could tern!

Henry J · 11 February 2014

Let us all tern over a new leaf!

After all, tern about is fowl play. Er, I mean, fair.

Tristan Miller · 12 February 2014

KlausH said: Browni???? Is that part of the "No Tern left unstoned" joke?
Hard to deternine

Dave Luckett · 12 February 2014

Terns, it is true, have little meat on them, but you can still make a very tasty dish of a tern. Do you not recall the recipe:

"For every thin tern, tern, tern, there is a seasoning..."

Just Bob · 13 February 2014

"For every thin tern, tern, tern, there is a seasoning, tern, tern, tern, and some thyme for every porpoise or other leaven."

Henry J · 13 February 2014

All of this reminds me of that Carol Burnett skit: "As the Stomach terns... "