Photos

These eggs of arctic terns were abandoned by their parents. Probably laid in a hurry on a dirt track leading to the farm we were staying, the parents must have been disturbed too often. No life was left, so we picked them up, two of them we managed to empty and they are now at home with a lot of other treasures we brought back, pebbles, lava, feathers, seashells...
They are about 3,5 cm long.

Arctic terns are colonial nesters, building their individual nests on open ground. They usuall nest on rocks and often dive-bomb the people who are going out to do research. Because their nest is on the bare rocks, they must defend their carefully from predators and anyone they think might harm them.
Arctic Terns lay two eggs (occasionally one or three) in their nest on the bare rocks, often lined with nothing more than a few pebbles. The eggs are the same color as the rocks and speckled to give them great camouflage.
Both parents incubate their 1-3 eggs for a total of 20-24 days. Even though the chicks can fly by the time they are 28 days of age, they will remain with their parents for an additional 1-2 months.
They are very sociable and will nest in large colonies.
After much aerial chasing and screaming, the male tern offers a small fish to the female in a courtship ritual, not so different from men, a dinner:-)
Most terns mate for life, now, that's different:op.
This bird migrates farther than any other bird species - from the high Arctic to Antarctica.

For a superb picture of a Kria (their name in Icelandic, from their strident cry), please see here, by Michel Detay.
I love them, strong, graceful, endurant, fast.

I have cropped some on the left, increased contrast and a bit of saturation.

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Ces oeufs de sterne arctique ont été abandonnés par les parents, car mal placés, sur un chemin menant à la ferme où nous logions, trop de passage, qui sait ce qui s'est passé ? Nous avons pu en vider deux, il n'y avait plus de vie, et ils sont chez nous, parmi d'autres trésors ramenés de là-bas, galets, coquillages, lave, plumes...Ils font 3,5 cm de long environ. Les sternes pondent le long des rochers, à nu, sur des cailloux, comme ici, et défendent leurs nids bec et ongles, cela nous est arrivé, par inadvertance, nous étions trop près et ...je dois dire que c'est impressionnant, ils se posent pratiquement sur votre tête. 2 à trois oeufs par nids, les deux parents couvent, de 20 à 24 jours. Les petits peuvent voler à partir de 28 jours, mais restent encore avec leurs parents pendant 1-2 mois. Beaucoup de couples de sternes restent ensemble pour la vie, ils sont très sociables et forment de grandes colonies. Pendant la période de sa cour, le mâle offre un petit poisson à la femelle pour l'impressionner, un restau quoi:-) Les sternes arctiques peuvent parcourir jusqu'à 30000 km par an en migration (de l'Arctique à l'Antarctique).