One of the rarest birds that I have been able to photograph yet here in the United States was the Whiskered Tern. The Whiskered Tern is usually found in Europe and Asia but this Whiskered Tern was found in Cape May, New Jersey, A little off course I would say :). It is only the 3rd recorded sighting of a Whiskered Tern in New Jersey that I could find, so this was a very big deal for the birding community. It didn't take us long to find the Whiskered Tern due to the 50 or so photographers on the beach all photographing the Whiskered Tern. It was really amazing to see a bird that doesn't really belong here, lol. I was really excited like a child on Christmas day running downstairs to open up his christmas presents. I couldn't wait to start photographing this Whiskered Tern. Then, all of a sudden, 2 kids come running up through the flock of gulls and terns dispersing them and off the flock went. I was in shock. I thought I just lost my opportunity to photograph a rare tern that I would never see again. I didn't have good thoughts about thos 2 teenage kids that ran through the flock of gulls and terns scaring them off. I wanted to bury them in the sand face down, lol
Anyway, my friend and I went walking around and photographed other birds for a while. We walked back to the beach and I saw a flock of gulls and terns returning and thought maybe this was the same flock and the Whiskered Tern is still with the flock. We decided to check it out. Well, it was the same flock and the Whiskered Tern was still there and this time all the other photographers have left and we had the Whiskered Tern all to ourselves :) :) :) This flock landed right in front of us and the Whiskered Tern was only 15ft away from us. What a great opportunity for some great photos. I am glad we stayed around and here are the photos ofmthe Whiskered Tern
My camera equipment:
Canon EOS 60D body
Canon EF-S 18-135mmf/3.5-5.6 IS Lens
Sigma 150-500mm f/5-6.3 DG OS HSM for Canon EF mount
Tamron SP 150-600mm f/5-6.3 Di Vc USD Lens for Canon
All photos are handshot, no tripod
Thanks everyone for taking the time to read this post. Have a great day/night wherever you may be. God bless you
