PHOTO ESSAY 02 / BHADRA

River Terns: Life at the Water’s Edge

River terns in motion—from low passes over the water to the split-second of a catch in flight.

River tern with wings open above water
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Opening frameBhadra, Karnataka
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At Bhadra, the river tern’s story unfolds in fractions of a second: low passages over water, poised turns, wings arrested just before descent, and the hard-won catch. This sequence follows movement rather than a single portrait, using repeated encounters to show how much changes within a few beats of flight.

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