Having been on the IPT at Nickerson, I was deeply affected by the hard life these birds have. As Artie mentioned, we spent one morning photographing a tern with two precious tiny chicks. He estimated them to be 1-2 days old. It was amazing watching the mother (?) with her chicks because she was so attentive, always touching them with her bill and making sure they were cuddled under her and safe.

Going back the next day and learning that they were gone – poof! – just gone, was a devastating experience. I couldn’t bring myself to go back to that area until later in the day. But in the morning I looked in the direction of where the nest-scrape had been and the mother (I assume it was the same bird and i assume it was the mother bird) was sitting there. At least this is my belief.

Artie didn’t mention (yet) the gull that nabbed a larger tern chick and we watched the gull struggle with it then swallow it whole. Really hard to watch. My instinct was to run and stop the gull, but I did not.
I prefer to see and take photos of birds sunning, flying, playing and having rainbows over them!!! 🙂