Arctic Tern display

On June 10, 2007 between 6:10 pm and 7:15 pm at Potter Marsh (south Anchorage), we observed several individuals of Arctic Tern performing display flights. During these flights one individual of the mated pair (presumably male) was flying close to its nest site (at distances < 200 m) carring a small fish (juv. salmon or a green-colored fish of similar size) and periodically (after 3 - 7 passes by the nest site) landing at the nest site where its partner was.

The displaying individual, however, did not feed the fish to its partner but rather after a short stay took-off and repeated the display flights around the nest. The main element of these display flights was dragging fish along the water surface. Birds were holding a fish just behind the gill openings and draging its tail along the water surface. These fish draging displays were performed by at least three different males for over an hour.

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Do you worry about the disappearance of Arctic Terns from Potter Marsh?

Although we do not have formal census data, contrary to the recent report in the Anchorage Daily News, we observed multiple successful nests of Arctic Tern from a single pullout on the Seward Hwy. For example, note age differences of the chicks photographed by B.K. Schmidt of the US National Museum of Natural History on July 3, 2007.