Black Tern

The Wind Dancer Every time I see a Black Tern in flight I think, “There goes the wind dancer.” Handsome and elegant little creatures of freshwater marshes, their distinctive “kek-kek-kek” call is a harbinger of spring. They arrive, breed, rear their young and just as suddenly as they appear, they vanish. Their journey takes them back to the wetlands of Mexico and Central America for the winter.  My first attempts at photographing Black Terns in flight proved a daunting task. Their aerial patterns are anything but linear and predictable. Erratic is more the rule, or maybe an unchoreographed, free-style dance would be a better 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