The Wind Dancer
Handsome and elegant come to mind when I see the Black Tern. Little creatures of freshwater marshes, their distinctive call is a harbinger of late spring. They arrive, breed, rear their young and just as suddenly as they appear, they vanish. Their journey takes them to the wetlands of Mexico and Central America for the winter.
When I first tried capturing Black Terns as images, it proved a daunting task. Their flight patterns are anything but linear and predictable. Erratic is more the rule, or maybe an unchoreographed free-style dance would be a more fitting description.
I caught this one in mid-ethereal flight as it danced across the wind.
~ Anecdote and Black Tern capture, The Wind Dancer © Jerry L. Ferrara