No. 147 - Terns

Each summer we like to spend a week in the Outer Banks of North Carolina. While there, I usually read a couple of Nicholas Sparks books, which are typically set in the area. This year I started my Sparks reading a little early since my wife recommended that I read The Last Song, his latest novel which has been made into a movie as well.

This morning I read the following paragraph:

The sun was descending, giving the ocean a sheen like liquid gold. On the beach, a few remaining families were congregated on towels near the water, along with a couple of sand castles about to be swept away in the rising tide. Terns darted in and out, hunting for crabs.

Terns? Not sure what they are. Darted in and out? Of the water? Was it a sea creature?

I learned that terns are a distinctive group of aerial fish-feeding birds closely related to gulls. They are medium to large in size, typically white/gray in color, with a black cap, red feet and a red bill. They are lighter bodied and more streamlined than gulls, and look elegant in flight with long tails and long narrow wings. Most terns hunt fish by diving, often hovering first. Terns will nest anywhere they feel safe and build fairly inadequate nests on the ground, often consisting of no more than an indentation in the gravel.