Black Terns #1 Women's Tank Top

The painting of the Black Tern (Childonias niger) was commissioned as a retirement gift for a biologist who studied the species. It is the fourth painting (plus several pen and ink studies) I have done of the Black Terns, a favourite subject because of its dainty elegance and subtle black, white, grey and silvery-grey colouration. Here I show two birds in late July as they would appear in in southern Ontario. One of the birds has started fall moult with white feathers starting to appear on the neck, but even in full breeding plumage the bases of the black feathers are white, so white often shows through the black. Common when I was young these marsh-nesting birds have become much rarer here in North America. They are very similar to ones found in Eurasia, but some experts think they should be regarded as two separate species. Our birds winter from Mexico south to southern South America while Eurasian birds normally winter on the west coast of Africa. They eat very small fish and inver...