One good tern...

A few days ago, as I sailed along SE from Current Cut, Eleuthera toward Rock Sound, Eleuthera a twittering caught my attention. Two terns swooped around, inspecting my boat. “Hello, you beautiful creatures!” I sang out.

Within a minute, both landed on my lifeline, one right over a stanchion and where some extra line made a good solid stand. The other landed two feet back, in mid-span, where the line has maximum freedom to move, sway, and hop...and his legs stayed in constant quivering motion to preserve his balance. This and the motion of the boat did not keep them from madly preening and scratching, dealing with itches and other items that couldn't be done mid-flight.

Over the next hour, I watched as they sat, aft bird occasionally chirping, gradually shifting position closer and closer to fore bird until she left her perch and shifted farther forward, perhaps uncomfortable with the crowding, perhaps feeling discomfort with not having enough room to spread her wings unconstrained (a possibly fatal issue if it leads to a wet landing).

Aft bird finally departed his perch and swooped around, chirping loudly in a way I interpreted as “Enough of this! I'm bored! I'm hungry! Let's go find some fish!”

Fore bird did not budge and, after a few minutes of cajoling failed, aft bird landed on top of the dinghy and waited with apparent patience.

After about an hour, both departed.

I certainly DO love wildlife visiting, whether a remora that stays with the boat for a week, birds that land and relax and use the restroom, or dolphins who play around us for ten minutes before exhausting the play possibilities of this solid intruder in their domain of water and air and light and darkness.

Life seems chock full of good moments.