Fast Food ala Tern

This is a follow up to my previous post with photos of Terns diving for fish. I came across an interesting sequence while culling and sorting a large number of photographs from that same morning. I use my camera’s burst mode since I am usually photographing active birds. These six photos cover a span of about 4 seconds based on the timestamps.

The sequence of photographs shows a Least Tern eating the fish it has just caught, while still in flight. This is the Tern version of fast food. It appears that it twists its head to get the fish in position, but needs a second try to get it just right. The fish has disappeared from view by the 4th photo. But there is a noticeable bulge in the Tern’s throat, so we know where it went!

Eating on the run isn’t just a human thing.