Look out!

Today Paladian and I both felt it was time to blip some birds again, hopefully something not yet blipped in BlipBigYear. I managed to get my hands on Paladian's camera for 5 minutes at a spot at Victor Harbor, right in front of the old Whalers Inn restaurant.

Fortunately a saw a group of terns and they turned out to be the Greater Crested Tern (Thalasseus bergii), also called Crested Tern or Swift Tern. We had not seen them before at Victor Harbor. Its five subspecies breed in the area from South Africa to the central Pacific and Australia, with all birds dispersing widely from the breeding range after nesting.

This large tern is closely related to the Royal and Lesser Crested Terns, but can be distinguished by its size and bill colour.
Seen better in LARGE.

The Greater Crested Tern has grey and white underparts, black legs and a yellow bill, and a shaggy black crest which recedes in winter. Like all members of this family, the Greater Crested Tern feeds by plunge diving for fish in marine environments.

Fortunately there are no global conservation concerns for this bird, which has a stable total population of more than 500,000. After this shot was taken we visited fellow blipper antipodia. Please check out some of her wonderful blips.