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At present I am retired and spending my time mostly on fishing and photography. I bought my first SLR way back in 1982. It was a Minolta XG1. My last film camera was the Maxxum 9000. When the fantastic Sony Alpha 100 was launched, I changed over to the digital system. My Alpha 580 was acquired followed closely by my Alpha 77.

My main interest in photography is lifestyles, sports, sceneries, nature, birds and macro shots. Lately, I have spend more time on bird and nature shooting. As a regular contributer to some fishing magazines, I shoot quite a lot of photographs of anglers too....hence my photography blog is named 'SHOOT THE HOOKER'.



Having grown up near the confluence of two, the Kangsar and the Perak Rivers, it is not surprising that one of my main interest is fishing. My younger days were spent swimming and fishing.... with a bamboo pole, line and small hooks.Now while fishing, my friends and I do take a lot of photographs of anglers in action. The anglers must be careful so as not to accidentally hook on to a photographer. So I think as a reminder, I would like to name my fishing blog as 'HOOK THE SHOOTER'.

Monday, June 24, 2013

Terns of Malaysia.

Terns are a type of sea or water birds of the family Sternidae. Many are migrants that travel long distances. They have slender bodies and pointed wings. The tails are mostly forked. thus many of them dive into the water to get their food fish. Some will hover above to pick up small food fish when they come to the surface. other will feed on insects too. They are generally long life birds that can live up to and in excess of 25-30 years.

In Malaysia there are 17 species which I will add here as and when I get to photograph them.

A) LITTLE TERN (Sternula albifrons). Small tern with forked tail. Breeding birds have black crown, nape and eye stripe and yellow bill while non breeding have white crown, black legs and bills. Usually in small groups along coastal water, rivers and inland ponds and lakes. Usually hover above water to pick up fish.



B) WHITE WINGED TERN (Childonias leucopterus). Breeding birds have black head, chest, upper and lower
Flock of White-winged Terns.
White-winged Tern.


 part. The bills are yellow with black tips. Can be seen in groups. Sometime hover over water to pick up fish.


Whiskered Tern
C) WHISKERED TERN (Clidonias hybrida). Non breeding birds have greyish and white forehead, black bill and streaks in the eyes. Skim low over water or plunging in to get their food.

Whiskered Tern

A flying tern looking for food.

A hovering tern picking up a morsel.
D) BLACK-NAPED TERN (Sterna sumatrana). Except for black nape, it is mostly white in clour. It has a deeply forked tail and narrow black bill.





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