When I thought the situation couldn't get any worse, another Arctic Tern came into play and appeared to repeatedly "attack" the drowning Tern. Here he was, hovering back and forth, then quickly diving and beating the other bird down. My heart sank even deeper ... "How could it be?" I kept repeating to myself. "How mean can you be to attack one of your own?"

Although I had lost my will to take pictures of this tragedy, my instincts as a photographer made me press the shutter; it was like a reflex. At every click of the camera, I recorded how cruel nature could be. What else could I have done? I felt so helpless ...

I desperately wanted to help, but back here on firm ground, the sad reality was that I was of little to no help.

Later on, still pondering the events of the day, I reviewed the pictures on my computer screen. To my astonishment, I realized that the "attack" my friends and I had witnessed was in fact what appears to be a rescue. What a shock! The Tern we had openly cursed and vilified was actually a hero trying to pull the drowning Tern out of the water, and not pushing it down ...

Upon close inspection, we could clearly see that the Tern was offering its beak for the distressed bird to hang on to. Beak to beak, the latter Tern tried to clinch to its mate who pulled with all its strength. Unfortunately, with its feathers soaked with water, the Tern was just too heavy to be successfully rescued this way.

In retrospect, I was quite intrigued to see such a compassionate behavior from a bird, and I feel even more blessed to have been able to witness such a touching event in nature. But also, I am surprised at how we could have so profoundly misunderstood this pair of Arctic Terns while the drama occured before our eyes. I am always amazed at how the camera could capture things the naked eye could not catch ...