Sterna maxima

If you've ever been at the beach and heard a shrill "keer-reek!", you can bet it was Sterna maxima. Like other gulls and terns, the Royal Tern is a noisy and gregarious species. Fishing, nesting, and sittin' around are processes carried out in large, dense groups. So community-oriented this species is, a nesting colony will form daycare-like creches, where young nestlings congregate and develop.

Sterna maxima: social, coastal, royal.

I love terns. There's something in my heart that squeals whenever I see one. I bagged my first Royal Terns last week in Texas, but today at Canaveral National Seashore I got my first great look at them. What lovely, beautiful creatures. So apt are the various designations of the crested terns: Elegant. Royal. Sandwich?