Sometime wanderer. When not wandering, probably north of you. Commercial wildlife photographer (they/them)
Max
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One of my GPS stations in southeast Alaska is near a place where both Arctic and Aleutian terns hang out. I try to bring multiple people so that someone can serve as a dedicated tern lookout, but blood still gets shed. The birds also like to perch on the station's solar panels and poop on them.
I have a dedicated tern-deterrent aerial that clips on my backpack at this time of year, so they swoop the top of that. Didn't stop one of them doing a battle shit on my hat last year, though.
The next best advice is to raise one arm high in the air and let them swoop your gloved hand instead of your head. Genuinely good advice if you don't need use of your hands
Years ago, I worked as a bus driver/tour guide in Anchorage, and our bus depot was adjacent to a scrap yard where dozens of these dive-bombers would nest. Every journey in and out of the main office was risky, we all ran holding clipboards over our heads. Kind of neat to see them up close, even so.
Literally nothing on this island freezes my blood more than the ratchet-like call of an angry tern and we have *polar bears* 😆
