It seems that these days many of us, me included, have had good opportunities at approaching birds closely...or them approaching us. Today was no exception. Went to a local pond, and as luck would have it there was this Common Tern perched on top of a rock about 25 feet from shore. I know it doesn't really seem that close, but for a Tern in Ottawa it's close enough...and the story only gets better...
It would regularly take off for a round of fishing, only to come back on the same rock. This particular rock (there are actually two of them) is very close to shore of an island (which has about 8 feet wide of water to cross to get on). During one of its trips away I decided to hop on to this island and park myself close to where it should land. Its' preferred rock out of the two is the one furthest away, but still only about 15 feet far. While waiting for it to come back, a Canada Goose decides to perch itself on said rock. I'm thinking get the #$@! off of there!! Suddenly out of nowhere the Tern comes back and without hesitation lands on the closest rock, which is only about 8-10 feet away!! It really doesn't care about the fact I am so close and just lies down and at one point actually falls asleep...
The first two shots are slight crops from across the water. The next two are from up-close, on the island, and uncropped. I kind of like the arctic feel of the last two..
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