The Annual Feeding Frenzy is Underway
Meet the Common Tern
Annually between June and August, Anguilla’s waters become a feeding frenzy.
“A feeding frenzy occurs when a large school of baitfish or the presence of a large quantity of any other type of food such as chum or shrimp boat trash attracts a school of predator fish or causes a number of normally solitary fish to gather. The predator fish all begin feeding at once.”
This year, the Bonitos have visibly chased the Fry (described below).
“Fry: Fry are ready to start eating on their own. Fry undergo several more developmental stages, which vary by species, as they mature into adults. Young fish are generally considered Fry during their first few months (during their first few months to just less than one year in some species).”
Wikipedia describes Bonito as follows:
“Bonitos are a tribe of medium-sized, ray-finned predatory fish in the family Scombridae – a family it shares with the mackerel, tuna, and Spanish mackerel tribes, and also the butterfly kingfish.[1] Also called the tribe Sardini, it consists of eight species across four genera; three of those four genera are monotypic, having a single species each. Bonitos closely resemble the skipjack tuna, which is often called a bonito, especially in Japanese contexts.”
While Bonitos are consumed by some in Anguilla, they are predominately used as bait to catch other fish like Red Snapper.
This activity naturally attracts resident and visiting seabirds who have young chicks to feed. As the predator fish chase the smaller Fry, they are forced to the surface providing food for seabirds.
Over the last few weeks, I recorded nine seabird species fishing in Anguilla’s waters including the Common Tern.
Birds of the World provides the following identification for this species:
“The Common Tern is a medium-sized sea-tern, with total length 32–39 cm, including elongated outer tail feathers forming a 6–9 cm fork, body mass 97–146 g and wingspan 72–83 cm. The breeding adult (Definitive Alternate Plumage) is characterized by light gray upperpartsphoto , pale gray underpartsphoto , a black cap, orange-red legs, and an orange-red bill with a black tip. Extensive black on the outer primaries is conspicuous on the closed wing, although it is covered by white ‘frosting’ when the feathers are freshly molted. Streamers of forked tail relatively short, not extending beyond wingtips at rest. In flight, both the leading and trailing edges of the outer primaries are dark; black inner webs of the primaries show as a dark wedge in the spread wing. The outer edges of the tail feathers are dark gray; the rump and uppertail-coverts are white, contrasting with the gray back. In May–June, the bill is usually orange-red with a black tip, but some birds have extensive black on the culmen; a few have bills largely black in May. The black is gradually lost during the breeding season, so the bill is largely orange-red by late July, reverting to black in September–October.”
Each year beginning in April, Common Terns join visiting seabirds that breed on Anguilla’s offshore cays. I have seen flocks on Dog and Scrub Islands but never seen their nesting spots. The presence of juvenile birds late in the season, indicates they nest here. I suspect the nest site is somewhere on Scrub or Little Scrub. You can often see them resting on the beach of Scilly Cay in the early morning and late afternoon.
The companion reel below shows some exciting feeding days seen this season.
Spectacular!
I continue my "schooling" of wildlife... thank you!