White-winged black tern
Images copyright by Mark A. Chappell
The elegantly marked white-winged black tern is a spring and summer resident of parts of Europe and Asia, returning from their wintering grounds in Africa. They breed in shallow marshes and flooded meadows, feeding on aquatic invertebrates. I found them entrancing but extremely challenging photographic subjects because of their quick and extremely erratic flight and highly contrasty plumage; the pictures on this page are among the best of more than 1000 exposures shot at a breeding site at Zajki, near Biebrza National Park in northeastern Poland.
