A Tern for the Worse

Forgive the pun... This beautiful creature - a tern of some description - is quickly sketched here before preparation for the Harvard Natural History Museum archives. The poor thing was collected this year from the southern US coast - the victim of a bad storm, she washed up already quite deceased on the beach. Fortunately, thanks to a banded leg, the individual could be traced, and most wonderfully appeared to have lived just past 20 years before being taken by environmental hazard. Her head here is resting on a pillow of fine sawdust (used to soak up the inevitable bit of blood exposed during the skinning process - and no, the red background is not said blood, but rather a brick-hued lunch tray).