{"id":10441,"date":"2013-11-13T06:03:04","date_gmt":"2013-11-13T13:03:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=10441"},"modified":"2025-09-02T14:24:53","modified_gmt":"2025-09-02T19:24:53","slug":"displaying-sandwich-terns-in-low-light","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/11\/13\/displaying-sandwich-terns-in-low-light\/","title":{"rendered":"Displaying Sandwich Terns In Low Light"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-153963 size-full\" title=\"Displaying Sandwich Terns in low light, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/sandwich-terns-courting-mia-mcpherson-9446.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/sandwich-terns-courting-mia-mcpherson-9446.jpg\" alt=\"Displaying Sandwich Terns in low light, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida\" width=\"788\" height=\"800\" data-id=\"10442\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27788%27%20height%3D%27800%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20788%20800%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27788%27%20height%3D%27800%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/sandwich-terns-courting-mia-mcpherson-9446-66x66.jpg 66w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/sandwich-terns-courting-mia-mcpherson-9446-200x203.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/sandwich-terns-courting-mia-mcpherson-9446-400x406.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/sandwich-terns-courting-mia-mcpherson-9446-600x609.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/sandwich-terns-courting-mia-mcpherson-9446-768x780.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/sandwich-terns-courting-mia-mcpherson-9446.jpg 788w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 788px) 100vw, 788px\" \/><span style=\"color: #888888;\">Displaying\u00a0Sandwich Terns in low light &#8211; Nikon D200, handheld, f5.6, 1\/400, ISO 500, Nikkor 80-400mm VR at 330mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Typically I prefer to photograph in what is called &#8220;sweet&#8221; light but there are times I shoot in low light because I like the subject, the setting or the behavior.<\/p>\n<p>These Sandwich Terns were courting early one morning at Fort De Soto&#8217;s north beach and even though the light wasn&#8217;t &#8220;sweet&#8221; I felt their displaying behavior was interesting.<\/p>\n<p>It wasn&#8217;t breeding season; it was taken in September, so I am not sure what this display was all about. Perhaps it was territorial.<\/p>\n<p>Life<em> is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n<p>Mia<\/p>\n<p>Click <a href=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/sandwich-tern-images\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Sandwich Tern photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>These Sandwich Terns were courting early one morning at Fort De Soto&#8217;s north beach and even though the light wasn&#8217;t &#8220;sweet&#8221; I felt their courtship behavior was interesting. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":153963,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,25,704,1860],"tags":[4004,4039,4021,14752,779,4077,156,4031,3980,4017,2090,629,4479,3996],"class_list":["post-10441","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-florida","category-fort-de-soto-county-park","category-sandwich-terns","tag-adult","tag-beach","tag-bird-photography","tag-coastal-island","tag-displaying","tag-gulf-of-mexico","tag-low-light-2","tag-nonbreeding","tag-pinellas-county","tag-sand","tag-tern","tag-terns","tag-thalasseus-sandvicensis","tag-water"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/sandwich-terns-courting-mia-mcpherson-9446.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-2Ip","jetpack_sharing_enabled":false,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":7521,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/02\/14\/sandwich-terns-love-is-in-the-air\/","url_meta":{"origin":10441,"position":0},"title":"Sandwich Terns &#8211; Love Is In The Air","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 14, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"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.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Sandwich Terns \u2013 Love is in the air, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/sandwich-terns-mating-mia-mcpherson-5832.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/sandwich-terns-mating-mia-mcpherson-5832.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/sandwich-terns-mating-mia-mcpherson-5832.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/sandwich-terns-mating-mia-mcpherson-5832.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":46464,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/04\/25\/royal-terns-courting-in-florida\/","url_meta":{"origin":10441,"position":1},"title":"Royal Terns Courting in Florida","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 25, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"The \"Circling\" courtship behavior of Royal Terns was one that I found interesting because as the male circled the female she moved too and kept her sides facing him.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Royal Terns courting, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/royal-tern-courtship-mia-mcpherson-0551.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/royal-tern-courtship-mia-mcpherson-0551.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/royal-tern-courtship-mia-mcpherson-0551.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/royal-tern-courtship-mia-mcpherson-0551.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":26739,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/07\/18\/juvenile-sandwich-tern-in-flight\/","url_meta":{"origin":10441,"position":2},"title":"Immature Sandwich Tern In Flight","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"July 18, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"I processed an older image of a juvenile Sandwich Tern in flight from my Florida archives to post this morning.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Immature Sandwich Tern in flight, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/sandwich-tern-immature-mia-mcpherson-7201.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/sandwich-tern-immature-mia-mcpherson-7201.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/sandwich-tern-immature-mia-mcpherson-7201.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/sandwich-tern-immature-mia-mcpherson-7201.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":20938,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/03\/13\/common-tern-and-friends\/","url_meta":{"origin":10441,"position":3},"title":"Common Tern And Friends","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 13, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"One July morning at 2008 I came across quite a few Common Terns at Fort De Soto County Park's north beach.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Common Tern and friends, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/common-tern-mia-mcpherson-7183.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/common-tern-mia-mcpherson-7183.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/common-tern-mia-mcpherson-7183.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/common-tern-mia-mcpherson-7183.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6335,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/10\/12\/sandwich-tern-in-flight-with-prey\/","url_meta":{"origin":10441,"position":4},"title":"Sandwich Tern In Flight With Prey","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 12, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"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.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Sandwich Tern in flight with prey, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/sandwich-tern-prey-mia-mcpherson-3096.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/sandwich-tern-prey-mia-mcpherson-3096.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/sandwich-tern-prey-mia-mcpherson-3096.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/sandwich-tern-prey-mia-mcpherson-3096.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":15764,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/09\/04\/a-morning-spent-at-fort-de-soto-six-years-ago-today\/","url_meta":{"origin":10441,"position":5},"title":"A Morning Spent At Fort De Soto Six Years Ago Today","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"September 4, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"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.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;American Oystercatchers&quot;","block_context":{"text":"American Oystercatchers","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/shorebirds\/american-oystercatchers\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Juvenile American Oystercatcher in stormy light on the shore of 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\/08\/american-oystercatcher-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-8658.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/american-oystercatcher-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-8658.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/american-oystercatcher-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-8658.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/american-oystercatcher-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-8658.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10441","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10441"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10441\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/153963"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10441"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10441"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10441"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}