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Inspiring and Supporting Photographers of Australian Birds

Roseate Tern

Roseate Tern (Image ID 39414)
Photographed byJim Schultz on Sat 29th Feb, 2020 and uploaded on Sun 1st Mar, 2020 .
Resolution1400x965
Viewed507
ID39414
CommentThe Roseate Tern is a medium sized tern that breeds in Australia. It occurs from Mandurah in Western Australia and northwards and then across the top to Queensland and finally down to northern NSW. It stays along the coastline and nearby islands, never venturing inland. It is a difficult species to identify, but other than the bill being black and turning red with a blackish tip when raising chicks, it is the roseate brush on the breast that readily gives it away, if present. Coral red legs and long tail streamers are also indications. The species inhabits marine environments and will forage along the coastal margins towards the sea, over lagoons and reefs and around islands. It will roost on sandy beaches above the high water mark and on rocks sticking out of the water near the beach. Breeding mainly takes place in colonies on islands. The Roseate Tern preys predominantly on fish, which it catches in usual tern style by plunge diving. Woodman Point; GPS. Status (2008): Least Concern
EquipmentOlympus OM-D E-M1X camera body with Olympus 300mm f4 IS Pro ED M.Zuiko lens + MC-14 Teleconverter; Velbon Neo Carmagne Carbon Tripod with Manfrotto Ball Head Art 498RC2. Camera settings: Exposure Program/Shooting Mode: ‘Manual’; shutter speed 1/500 sec, f6.3 & ISO-250. Metering Mode: ‘CenterWeightedAverage’; Focus Mode: ‘Continous-AF’ with the AF-system further set to ‘AF-Target Mode’ and a target group of 9 sensors (3x3). Drive: ‘Sequential shooting (1frame)’ in ‘Continuous Low’. Maximum burst rate habitually set to 12 to prevent filling up the buffer for which reason also I shoot only in RAW. Image Stabilizer left on ‘OFF’; In-Camera Sharpness +2. (These settings are also the combination I favour for birds in flight; it took a lot of experimentation with the OM-D E-M1X/300 mm F4 lens combo to find a merger of settings suitable for this challenging discipline.) Olympus Workspace for metadata; FastStone for viewing & sorting; Adobe Photoshop Camera Raw/CC 2020 for post-processing; Topaz Pro plug-ins Sharpen AI, DeNoise AI & Studio 2 for sharpening and noise control. ‘Australian Bird Guide 2019’ for identification, supplementary data and colour checks.
LocationWoodman Point; GPS, Western Australia
Keywordsadult, non-breeding plumage/features
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