A Royal Bath
These two bathing Royal Tern images remind me of the warm April morning when I spent time photographing different species splashing around in the Gulf of Mexico.
A morning spent at Fort De Soto six years ago today
Six years ago this morning I was photographing birds at Fort De Soto County Park and I wanted to share a few images and memories of that day.
Sunrise from another place and time
The reason Utah got uglier is that today Crow hunting killing season begins for the first time in the state so the day is already off on a bad start.
Sunrise Skimmers with sandstone texture
Both versions of this frame of the sunrise Black Skimmers bring back memories from the morning I created this photo of them in their pre-dawn flight.
Hovering Forster’s Tern
Last week I photographed this adult Forster's Tern in flight as it foraged for food above Glover Pond near Farmington Bay WMA.
Black Skimmers – Highly gregarious and unmistakable
Black Skimmers are beautiful and unmistakable, with their long orange/red black tipped bill, white underparts, blackish upper parts and distinctive barking call.
An Aerial Food Fight – Gulls and a Tern
This image was taken on a breezy April morning in 2009 at Fort De Soto County Park's north beach when I saw an aerial food fight occurring over the Gulf of Mexico.
Black Skimmers at Fort De Soto Five Years Ago Today
It is really cruddy here in Utah this morning so I thought I would go back in time to a warmer, sunnier day via the magic of some Black Skimmer images I created five years ago today.
Breeding and nonbreeding Caspian Terns
Soon Caspian Terns will be back in Utah flying over rivers, ponds, lakes and other freshwater impoundments searching for prey.
Black Skimmers in flight
I photographed these Black Skimmers in flight at the north beach of Fort De Soto County Park in Florida one cool January morning.
Displaying Sandwich Terns in low light
These Sandwich Terns were courting early one morning at Fort De Soto's north beach and even though the light wasn't "sweet" I felt their courtship behavior was interesting.
Landing Black Skimmer
Black Skimmers are known by several nicknames which include scissorbills, knifebill and cut-water for how their bills slice through the water when they are hunting and how their bills snap shut on prey.
Waves and a Forster’s Tern
The nonbreeding Forster's Tern in these two images is the same bird and the images were taken ten frames and a few seconds apart as the tern stood on the shoreline of the Gulf of Mexico in Florida.
Nonbreeding Black Skimmer
When I did my post the other day on "Missing Fort De Soto" I found this Black Skimmer image in my archives while looking for photos to put in that post and wanted to share it.
Potpourri Of Birds From This Week
These are but a few of the birds I photographed this week in various Utah locations and all of them made great subjects!
Royal Tern Over
Royals Terns make amazing dive bombs for their prey which are usually small baitfish running close to the surface and sometimes if you are lucky you get to see them "Tern Over" in mid air.
Forster’s Tern and friend
This Forster's Tern image was taken several years ago on Fort De Soto County Park's north beach while it was resting on the sand as another tern was flying towards us both.
Sandwich Terns – Love is in the air
I can recall clearly the day I took this photograph of Sandwich Terns mating, I was sitting very low in a tidal lagoon on the north beach of Fort De Soto County Park in Florida, it was very warm and the water of the lagoon felt great on my skin when these two terns started a breeding display.
Some of the Birds I Love at Bear River National Wildlife Refuge
One of my favorite locations to photograph birds in northern Utah is Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge. I've selected some of the birds there that delight and entertain me while I observe and photograph them.
Bird images from warmer and sunnier days
I love winter, I love seeing snow on the mountains and feeling the crispness in the air but I am getting tired of gray cloudy days and heavy fog so I thought I would post a few images from warmer and sunnier days that I took while I lived in Florida.
The answer to the Gull and Tern Quiz is…
The majority of you voted for the correct answer: Juvenile Herring Gull, 1st winter Laughing Gull and Royal Tern
Black Skimmer flying on over…
I took this photo in Florida in 2008 as the adult Black Skimmer flew by whilst giving me "the eye". Isn't the color of the Gulf of Mexico behind the bird simply delicious?
Royal Terns in breeding and nonbreeding plumage
Just a simple post today to show the differences in the breeding and nonbreeding plumage of Royal Terns.
Sandwich Tern in flight with prey
This image Sandwich Tern was taken at Fort De Soto County Park's north beach several years ago, it was a breezy, very warm day and there were schools of baitfish running just offshore in the Gulf of Mexico.
4 Years ago today when Hurricane Ike stirred things up at Fort De Soto
Four years ago today Hurricane Ike was out in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico and the waves that it generated made a strong splash at Fort De Soto County Park.
Resting Black Skimmer juvenile – My banner image
Several people have remarked on how much they like the resting Black Skimmer juvenile image that was in my rotating banner at the top of this blog so I thought I would post it to show the whole bird.
Caspian Terns
Caspian Terns (Hydroprogne caspia) are North America's largest tern with a wingspan of 50 inches and weighing in at 1.4 pounds.
Odd Black Skimmer Behavior
The Black Skimmer had a Mangrove seed pod in its bill and it was twirling the seed pod with its bill, at times the seed pod even went over the top of the bill but unfortunately I didn't get any images of that.
Oh…Poop!
Yes, poop happens. If there are birds there is poop. That is the straight poop... I mean scoop!
Forster’s Terns
When I moved from Florida to Utah I felt it was fortunate that some of the nonbreeding birds I used to see in Florida during the winter I now get to see in breeding plumage on their nesting grounds.