{"id":14702,"date":"2014-04-06T05:49:14","date_gmt":"2014-04-06T11:49:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=14702"},"modified":"2026-02-06T18:26:46","modified_gmt":"2026-02-07T00:26:46","slug":"breeding-and-nonbreeding-caspian-terns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/04\/06\/breeding-and-nonbreeding-caspian-terns\/","title":{"rendered":"Breeding And Nonbreeding Caspian Terns"},"content":{"rendered":"

Soon Caspian Terns will be back in Utah flying over rivers, ponds, lakes, and other freshwater impoundments searching for prey.<\/p>\n

\"CaspianNonbreeding Caspian Tern in flight – Nikon D200, handheld, f7.1, 1\/1600, ISO 320, Nikkor 80-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 310mm, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

Caspian Terns are the largest terns in North America and are about the size of\u00a0a Ring-billed Gull. I have been fortunate to see and photograph them in both Utah and Florida. They make a funny “kowk<\/a><\/span>” call and usually I hear them before I see them when I am out photographing here in Utah. Caspian Terns breed here in northern Utah but the largest breeding colony of them is in Oregon.<\/p>\n

The Caspian Tern with the speckled crown in the photo above is in nonbreeding plumage, I photographed it in flight over the Gulf of Mexico in Florida. There was a storm coming off of the Gulf that made for an interesting sky.<\/p>\n

\"PairPair of Caspian Terns in breeding plumage – Nikon D200, handheld, f18, 1\/160, ISO 160, Nikkor 70-300mm VR with 1.4x TC at 300mm, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

This pair of Caspian Terns with all black crowns were in breeding plumage when I photographed them at Fort De Soto County Park’s north beach. I have always chuckled when I view this image because it almost looks like a two-headed, four-legged Caspian Tern due to the close proximity of the terns. To get both birds in focus I set my aperture at f18 and that worked well.<\/p>\n

I can’t wait to see my first of the year Caspian Terns!<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

Soon Caspian Terns will be back in Utah flying over rivers, ponds, lakes, and other freshwater impoundments searching for prey.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":113248,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27,1802,25,704],"tags":[4004,4039,4053,1803,5132,4052,4122,4467,3997,4246,4018,165,2315,2090,629,3996],"class_list":["post-14702","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-caspian-terns","category-florida","category-fort-de-soto-county-park","tag-adult","tag-beach","tag-breeding-plumage","tag-caspian-tern","tag-coastal","tag-flight","tag-flying","tag-hydroprogne-caspia","tag-lagoon","tag-nonbreeding-plumage","tag-sky","tag-spring","tag-summer-3","tag-tern","tag-terns","tag-water"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t