Tern with multiple fish?

Reviewing my images from a week or so ago, I noticed that this tern has three fish. Has anyone seen this before, I sure have not but I am fairly new at photographing and watching birds.

I don't understand how they do it - seems that they would drop one fish when trying to get another. I also don't understand how a songbird can catch 5 different types of bugs and bring them all back to the nest at once - how can they get a dragonfly in flight when they already have grubs and moths in their beak????
Clearly, though, they have perfected the technique! I've seen it a few times with terns - commonly with puffins and other birds. Just makes sense to be as efficient as possible - a beak full of fish is more "cost effective" than multiple trips with only one fish at a time, especially when the prey is any distance from the nest..

Cheers -

Sandy

Harry,

I've seen terns and other birds with multiple prey items in their bills. Like Sandy I can't quite figure out how the birds do it without dropping the prey they already have in their bills. Birds are amazing creatures.

Skip, pretty amazing, i have never seen this before either.

Harry
Glad you posted this. Watching the Terns with you leads me to believe one dive yielded three fish. Again Harry, this is a great shot. I really enjoy shooting with you and Eric.

Thats is one behaviour of birds that i find fascinating. Puffins for instance have little spikes on the roof of their mouths. They use their tongue to secure their catch against the spikes. Its hard for us(at least to me) to imagine how they can catch more with their mouths nearly full. But then, maybe their beaks are that dextrous and sensitive. Wouldn't surprise me given that most that exhibit this behaviour feed exclusively with the aid of their beaks.
(ps: most of this is hearsay/speculation, i dont know a lot about birds )

I can see there'd be strong evolutionary pressure for adaptions to catch and carry multiple fish; witness the pelican, which has taken the case to one extreme. Puffins, as Anand notes, have specialized adaptations. But a lot of energy and time is lost to flight to and from the foraging grounds. If you can get there with skill, which I assume is what terns do, then the benefits outweigh a few lost bits of prey. Still, hanging on to fish when plunge diving is a pretty good trick.