This week I thought we’d look at the incredible arctic tern. Terns travel farther than any other animals during their annual migration.
Birds breeding in North Atlantic regions travel about miles round trip every year during their 30-year lifespan. Their lifetime travel is equivalent to three round trips to the moon!!
Arctic terns often fly thousands of miles out of their way to take advantage of the best weather and get the best food. They can bounce around every continent instead of flying in a straight line back home. Although most arctic terns return to their home nesting grounds, some birds veer off course. Arctic terns from Siberia have shown up in South Africa, while terns that hatched in Greenland have been sighted in Australia.
In Yellowknife the terns begin to show up shortly after the gulls in late April or early May. They stick around until August and then they are back in the air and headed back to the Antarctic with their new family members.
All this flying means that they eat a lot. I’ve seen them choke down fish nearly as large as they are and I wonder how on earth they get themselves back into the air. Terns dive for fish and other small invertebrates that swim near the surface of the water. Their aerial acrobatics are nearly unsurpassed. They can make sharp turns mid-air, hover in place, or dive and escape the water. They are truly adapted for their lifestyle
We have a few different species of tern that show up in and around Yellowknife including the common tern, arctic tern, Caspian tern, and the black tern. A piece of advice though if you are ever out on the hunt for them or their young… cover your head! They will dive bomb you like nothing else in an attempt to drive you away from their nesting sites! I had one friend who used to keep a bucket with eye holes cut out of it near their boat to protect themselves when passing a nearby nesting colony! Consider yourself warned!