Caspian terns liven up our summer shorelines around the Salish Sea with their raspy calls and flashy flights.

A larger member of the gull family, the Caspian stands out with its striking orange-red beak and stylish black crest. When fishing they first hover, then plunge headlong into the surface waters. As a species, terns are among the most famed of world travelers — including the Arctic tern which, over its lifetime of annual migrations, will log distances the equivalent of several round trips to the moon.

Like all our wildlife heritage, they play a part in defining our region and add immeasurable beauty, intriguing personalities and vitality to our lives.

Using pastels, I have added color to a lithographic print I did years ago as a fundraiser for the Nisqually Delta Restoration Project.

— Contributed by Tony Angell

For Artist’s Corner, Salish Current welcomes readers to share images that capture the spirit of our natural and built environments, including the creatures and people who live here. Submittals must be works in your possession and not promotional. Please contact Salish Current Managing Editor Mike Sato (msato@rockisland.com) to let us know what you’d like to share and why.