Caspian Tern

I love to watch the terns when they show up on the river, especially the Caspian Terns. They look similar to their cousins the Royal Tern with their reddish-orange bill, but the Caspian's bill is thicker. They also have quite a bit larger wingspan.

This one has caught a small flounder species. This flatfish, which I'm pretty sure is a species called a hog choaker, doesn't get much bigger than this. They could probably be called tern choakers too since you can see it is going to have fun trying to swallow it as wide as it is.

To watch the tern, you would get the impression it is playing with it's food, but the truth is, they swallow the fish on the fly and it is trying to get it in the right position to do that.

They will flip it around in their bill trying to get it in a head-first position so that when they swallow it, none of the spines stick in their gullet and cause them to choke. They are just fun to watch.