{"id":101757,"date":"2022-04-24T05:25:37","date_gmt":"2022-04-24T11:25:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=101757"},"modified":"2022-04-24T05:25:37","modified_gmt":"2022-04-24T11:25:37","slug":"black-skimmer-photo-from-13-years-ago","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/04\/24\/black-skimmer-photo-from-13-years-ago\/","title":{"rendered":"Black Skimmer Photo From 13 Years Ago"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"AdultAdult Black Skimmer flying over the Gulf of Mexico – Nikon D200, handheld, f6.3, 1\/1500, ISO 250, Nikkor 70-300mm VR at 95mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

It was thirteen years ago today when I took this photo of an adult Black Skimmer flying over the Gulf of Mexico<\/span><\/a> in Pinellas County, Florida. It was warm that morning and the sand felt wonderful on my feet. The tang of salt was in the air and the sea breeze helped to keep me cool.<\/p>\n

There were quite a few Black Skimmers in the area that morning. Some were resting on the warm sand, some were bathing in the water of the Gulf and a few were skimming for prey just off shore. Black Skimmers have unique calls<\/span><\/a> that sound a little like a yappy bark from a dog. I loved hearing them.<\/p>\n

I’ve missed seeing the Black Skimmers that I photographed while I lived in Florida. Watching them fly in after a night of hunting for prey in the pre-dawn light at Fort De Soto County Park was always a treat.<\/p>\n

On that April morning I had no idea that just a few months later I would pack all my earthly possessions into my Jeep and a UHaul trailer and move to Utah a few months later. If I had known I would have taken several hundred more photos of them that day.<\/p>\n

Black Skimmer were always fun and challenging to photograph. I miss them.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Black Skimmer photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It was thirteen years ago today when I took this photo of an adult Black Skimmer flying over the Gulf of Mexico in Pinellas County, Florida.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":101754,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,253,25,704,2000],"tags":[4004,3990,5229,5132,4052,4122,4077,4211,4697,5117,4018,165],"class_list":["post-101757","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-black-skimmers","category-florida","category-fort-de-soto-county-park","category-pinellas-county-florida","tag-adult","tag-black-skimmer","tag-coast","tag-coastal","tag-flight","tag-flying","tag-gulf-of-mexico","tag-rynchops-niger","tag-skimmer","tag-skimmers","tag-sky","tag-spring"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/black-skimmer-adult-flight-mia-mcpherson-7825.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-qtf","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6611,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/11\/19\/black-skimmer-flying-on-over\/","url_meta":{"origin":101757,"position":0},"title":"Black Skimmer flying on over…","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 19, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"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?","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Black Skimmer fly by over the Gulf of Mexico, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/black-skimmer-flight-adult-mia-mcpherson-7121.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/black-skimmer-flight-adult-mia-mcpherson-7121.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/black-skimmer-flight-adult-mia-mcpherson-7121.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/black-skimmer-close-up-flight-mia-mcpherson-9063.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/black-skimmer-close-up-flight-mia-mcpherson-9063.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/black-skimmer-close-up-flight-mia-mcpherson-9063.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/black-skimmer-close-up-flight-mia-mcpherson-9063.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":10970,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/11\/22\/black-skimmers-in-flight\/","url_meta":{"origin":101757,"position":2},"title":"Black Skimmers In Flight","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 22, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"I photographed these Black Skimmers in flight at the north beach of Fort De Soto County Park in Florida one cool January morning.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Black Skimmers in flight over Fort De Soto\u2019s north beach, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/black-skimmers-flight-fort-desoto-florida-mia-mcpherson-3595.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/black-skimmers-flight-fort-desoto-florida-mia-mcpherson-3595.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/black-skimmers-flight-fort-desoto-florida-mia-mcpherson-3595.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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County Park, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/black-skimmer-mia-mcpherson-adult-flight-8868.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/black-skimmer-mia-mcpherson-adult-flight-8868.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/black-skimmer-mia-mcpherson-adult-flight-8868.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/black-skimmer-mia-mcpherson-adult-flight-8868.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":39045,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/04\/29\/black-skimmer-skimming-the-gulf\/","url_meta":{"origin":101757,"position":4},"title":"Black Skimmer Skimming the Gulf","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 29, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"My own technique for photographing this Black Skimmer skimming the Gulf and other skimmers that day was to sit down in the water right where the waves crested and moved on shore.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Black Skimmer skimming the Gulf, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/black-skimmer-adult-skimming-mia-mcpherson-1996.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/black-skimmer-adult-skimming-mia-mcpherson-1996.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/black-skimmer-adult-skimming-mia-mcpherson-1996.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/black-skimmer-adult-skimming-mia-mcpherson-1996.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":44094,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/12\/24\/black-skimmer-in-a-fog-over-the-gulf-of-mexico\/","url_meta":{"origin":101757,"position":5},"title":"Black Skimmer in a Fog over the Gulf of Mexico","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 24, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Whenever I view this photo of a lone Black Skimmer in flight on a foggy Gulf shore I feel a wave of joy and peaceful feelings wash over me.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Lone Black Skimmer on a foggy Gulf shore, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, 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