{"id":10970,"date":"2013-11-22T05:21:23","date_gmt":"2013-11-22T12:21:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=10970"},"modified":"2025-09-18T18:59:58","modified_gmt":"2025-09-18T23:59:58","slug":"black-skimmers-in-flight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/11\/22\/black-skimmers-in-flight\/","title":{"rendered":"Black Skimmers In Flight"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-156745 size-full\" title=\"Black Skimmers in flight over Fort De Soto\u2019s north beach, Florida\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/black-skimmers-flight-fort-desoto-florida-mia-mcpherson-3595.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/black-skimmers-flight-fort-desoto-florida-mia-mcpherson-3595.jpg\" alt=\"Black Skimmers in flight over Fort De Soto\u2019s north beach, Florida\" width=\"850\" height=\"607\" data-id=\"10900\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27850%27%20height%3D%27607%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20850%20607%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27850%27%20height%3D%27607%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/black-skimmers-flight-fort-desoto-florida-mia-mcpherson-3595-200x143.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/black-skimmers-flight-fort-desoto-florida-mia-mcpherson-3595-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/black-skimmers-flight-fort-desoto-florida-mia-mcpherson-3595-400x286.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/black-skimmers-flight-fort-desoto-florida-mia-mcpherson-3595-600x428.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/black-skimmers-flight-fort-desoto-florida-mia-mcpherson-3595-768x548.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/black-skimmers-flight-fort-desoto-florida-mia-mcpherson-3595.jpg 850w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 850px) 100vw, 850px\" \/><span style=\"color: #888888;\">Black Skimmers in flight &#8211; Nikon D200, handheld, f6.3, 1\/640, ISO 200, Nikkor 80-400mm VR at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Just a quick post this morning of an image of a pair of Black Skimmers in flight over the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico.<\/p>\n<p>I photographed these Black Skimmers at the north beach of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.pinellascounty.org\/park\/05_ft_desoto.htm\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Fort De Soto County Park<\/span><\/a> in Florida one cool January morning. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/guide\/Black_Skimmer\/id\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Black Skimmers<\/span><\/a> are North America&#8217;s only skimmer species.<\/p>\n<p>Life <em>is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n<p>Mia<\/p>\n<p>Click <a href=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/black-skimmer-images\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Black Skimmer photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I photographed these Black Skimmers in flight at the north beach of Fort De Soto County Park in Florida one cool January morning.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":156745,"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":[27,253,25,704,2000],"tags":[4004,3990,5229,5132,4052,4122,4077,3980,4211,4697,5117,4018],"class_list":["post-10970","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-pinellas-county","tag-rynchops-niger","tag-skimmer","tag-skimmers","tag-sky"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/black-skimmers-flight-fort-desoto-florida-mia-mcpherson-3595.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-2QW","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":101757,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/04\/24\/black-skimmer-photo-from-13-years-ago\/","url_meta":{"origin":10970,"position":0},"title":"Black Skimmer Photo From 13 Years Ago","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 24, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"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.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adult Black Skimmer flying 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\/2022\/04\/black-skimmer-adult-flight-mia-mcpherson-7825.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/black-skimmer-adult-flight-mia-mcpherson-7825.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/black-skimmer-adult-flight-mia-mcpherson-7825.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/black-skimmer-adult-flight-mia-mcpherson-7825.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":14837,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/04\/26\/black-skimmers-at-fort-de-soto-five-years-ago-today\/","url_meta":{"origin":10970,"position":1},"title":"Black Skimmers at Fort De Soto Five Years Ago Today","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 26, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"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.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Black Skimmer in flight close up as it flew past me at Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, 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":15417,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/07\/18\/black-skimmers-highly-gregarious-and-unmistakable\/","url_meta":{"origin":10970,"position":2},"title":"Black Skimmers &#8211; Highly Gregarious And Unmistakable","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"July 18, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Black Skimmers are beautiful and unmistakable, with their long orange\/red black tipped bill, white underparts, blackish upper parts and distinctive barking call.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Black Skimmer adult on beach at Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/black-skimmer-mia-mcpherson-adult-8056.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/black-skimmer-mia-mcpherson-adult-8056.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/black-skimmer-mia-mcpherson-adult-8056.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/black-skimmer-mia-mcpherson-adult-8056.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":31166,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/10\/26\/a-scoop-of-black-skimmers-flying-past-shell-key\/","url_meta":{"origin":10970,"position":3},"title":"Scoop Of Black Skimmers Flying Past Shell Key","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 26, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"I haven't seen Black Skimmers in over six years now but in my mind I can still hear them calling when I look at my images of a group of them in flight.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Scoop of Black Skimmers flying past Shell Key, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/black-skimmer-flock-mia-mcpherson-7755.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-flock-mia-mcpherson-7755.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/black-skimmer-flock-mia-mcpherson-7755.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/black-skimmer-flock-mia-mcpherson-7755.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":15640,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/08\/13\/sunrise-skimmers-with-sandstone-texture\/","url_meta":{"origin":10970,"position":4},"title":"Sunrise Skimmers With Sandstone Texture","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"August 13, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"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.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Sunrise Skimmers with sandstone texture, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/sunrise-skimmer-photo-art-mia-mcpherson-9984.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/sunrise-skimmer-photo-art-mia-mcpherson-9984.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/sunrise-skimmer-photo-art-mia-mcpherson-9984.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/sunrise-skimmer-photo-art-mia-mcpherson-9984.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3322,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2011\/10\/12\/black-skimmer-adult-in-flight\/","url_meta":{"origin":10970,"position":5},"title":"Black Skimmer Adult In Flight","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 12, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"I could always tell when a flock of Black Skimmers were flying in to Fort De Soto's north beach when I was photographing there because I could usually hear their soft, nasal barking yips or yeps before I saw them.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Black Skimmers&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Black Skimmers","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/terns-and-skimmers\/black-skimmers\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adult Black Skimmer in flight over the Gulf on Mexico, photographed at the north beach of Fort De Soto 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":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10970","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=10970"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10970\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/156745"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10970"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10970"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10970"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}