What's bipedal, round, fuzzy, speckled and ridiculously cute?

Caspian tern chicks, of course! They are here! All the commotion of capturing adult terns, must have coaxed them out faster. The first chicks were spotted on the evening after our last adult capture session.

Yesterday, I spent some time photographing the chicks. The wind hasn't been right to create upwelling along the coast, so the baitfish (anchovies) are sparse. I've only seen parents trying to feed Surf Perch to the chicks - which doesn't work so well. Surf Perch are tall, skinny fish (from top to bottom) so they don't easily fit through the gape of a chicks mouth.

See for yourself: You can click on any photo to make it larger.

A chick cuddling with it's parent.

Mom(?) got off the nest when Dad(?) came with supper. A surf perch, in this case. This feeding wasn't successful because the chick's mouth is too small for the fish to go down. See the other chick peaking out from Mom's (?) wing. I assume the bird on the nest is Mom and the bird coming back with fish is Dad. It just seems like that's how it should be. Not that Mom birds aren't capable of fishing...

Another chick. This one figured out how to eat surf perch. Sometimes, the fish are too long so the tails hang out of their little mouths until some of the fish is digested. Then the chicks stand up to finish swallowing their meal. It's pretty fantastic, really.

The view of the colony and Astoria, OR from the north blind.

A ring-billed gull on the lookout for a meal.

That's all I have for today. Enjoy!