Every winter, the Great Crested Terns move from their coastal estuarine summer home in Moreton Bay up the Brisbane River to the warmer inland waters around Kurilpa. And they are not the only ones, with one species of gull and two other species of tern migrating with them. The most common of the tern species seen languidly following the fish up and down river with the ebbing and flowing of the tide is the Great Crested Tern.
This large, predominantly white bird has a black cap that it occasionally raises to look like a rockabilly and a long lemon-yellow pointed bill. It trawls for fish with its beady black eyes, dramatically plunging headfirst into the water for its catch and returning to its head-down flying style for the next trawl and dive. It takes powerful, swift but deep beats with its slender, pointed wings. It eats on the wing unless its prey is a very large fish. It never rests on the water, preferring high struts and pontoons around 4101.
The Great Crested Tern has hit the headlines lately with the arrival of the H5 strain of Bird Flu to Australia. It is far from good news. This tern naturally associates with the international migratory birds that carry the virus when it is fishing in its summer open water habitat. Mass deaths of this species have been reported in South Australia because the bird’s natural inclination to nest in tight colonies on small rocky outcrops near the shore. These tight colonies are the perfect environment for the disease to spread from one infected bird to another: an avian COVID scenario.
The situation seems quite fraught and disempowering; however, one good turn deserves another: below are links to a Birdlife Australia FAQ page and an action page on the subject. In the meantime, look out for the Great Crested Tern while there is still a chance. Hopefully, enough birds will build immunity to the virus and live on to see another winter.
Photo credit: Pablo Silber: Juvenile Great Crested Tern, Kurilpa.
https://birdlife.org.au/avian-influenza-and-h5-bird-flu-frequently-asked-questions/
